Come Back to Me
by Emo-Shukun
Summary: Shot and wounded, 10 year-old Helga ran away and found herself in San Lorenzo without any intentions before her drunk mother could finish the job. She comes back to Hilwood in time for a little high school fun, but she's changed. With her family deceased, she finds herself wrestling with Miles in the boarding house. Arnold's glad to have her back, in more ways than one.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Yes, my dear faithful readers... be amazed as for this is not anime! Holy crap, right? A lot of deviants wanted this posted, so I figured... why not?

* * *

**Chapter 01**

**Come Back to Me**

**Now—**

"Sorry Helga, but I have to do this…"

* * *

"I wonder why Helga didn't come to practice today." Arnold mumbled aloud for no reason.  
Gerald rolled his eyes. "Honestly Arnold, if you're that worried about her, go call her home!"  
"I'm not worried, I'm just curious." He shifted his bat on the shoulder casually. "She never—"  
A loud bang shot through their ears, causing them to look at another. "That sounded like a gun."  
"What should we do? We know a lot of people that live in that—" Arnold squinted. "Is that Helga?"

They strained their eyesight to see it was her, but there was two more shots being fired while Helga tried to run away from it quickly. She was on the other side of the street from the two that were coming home from baseball practice, and watched her turn into an alleyway. Gerald jumped at the next five shots fired—wondering how long this had been going on and if there was a robber on the loose. Arnold shook him out of his thoughts to point towards Helga who was peeking through the corner of the building as if to make sure she was not followed. Her attention went towards the ground in some manner before cringing, and started running again until a police car sped by with sirens blaring. The coast was clear once more, so she tried to run farther from the scene—she failed by colliding into the ground and giving a loud painful gasp.

Arnold ran over to her with Gerald following close behind. "Helga, are you okay?" When he arrived at her side, he tried to grab her arm in order to help her up. "Come on, you shouldn't stay on the g—"  
"Don't touch me!" She screamed at him in so much pain and anger that the two boys jumped in fright. "Nh!" The yelling did more damage than she could handle. "I'm fine! Just get away from me, Idiots!"  
"Arnold," Gerald spoke, pointing to the sidewalk … there was a pool of blood beneath her. "Mr. Green's shop is right around this corner, I'll go call for an ambulance!" He did not like her, but she was hurt…

As he ran off to get help Helga forced herself to get up with her hand firmly holding the wound that she had. "I'm leaving, and you're not going to stop me." She took a step, and Arnold got in front of her. "You are the luckiest kid I probably know. An only child, adventurous parents, friends." Her body nearly fell over, but she took a step to prevent it. "I'm sorry that Bob had called you an orphan a few months ago. At least you have a family that cares about you, now get out of my way." When she started to walk around him, he merely got in her way. "I don't want to hurt you, _Arnold_."

"I don't think you _could_ in the state that you're in." He frowned at her. "What happened to you?"

"You mean you can't hear Miriam shooting that gun off?" Helga laughed—regretting it instantly. "Last time, Arnold, _move_." She took another step whereas he did not budge, causing her to swat him, but nearly fell over because of it. "What's your problem, I'm trying to get away from here! Nh!"

Arnold knew that she was in pain. "You can't go anywhere like that. Let me help you!"  
"So you can take me to the hospital? I don't think so!" Yelling made her double in pain.  
He had to think quickly. "I'll take you wherever you want to be, just name it Helga!"  
_'Idiot,'_ she thought. "You're my friend, right?" His eyes widened. "Please… move."

"Did you just…" the football head knew that he was imagining this now. "…did you just call me…" his head shook to get out of those thoughts to look at her clearly. "Did you just call me your friend—"

She was gone.

Arnold looked everywhere to find her until he heard a car door slam shut; she just got into someone's car that did not look familiar to him. He quickly ran into the street to memorize the license plate while hearing Gerald running back over to say that they were already coming in this direction. However, the tall-haired boy looked around slowly before cautiously asking Arnold where Helga was despite having a bad feeling about it. Gerald tried to walk to his side to ask quietly about where their hotheaded friend—well, hotheaded classmate seemed more appropriate. His eyes widened in disbelief though once his football headed friend pointed forth at the runaway green car that was driving off.

"You let her go! I can't believe you!" He slapped his head. "Are you serious Arnold!"  
"S-She caught me off guard…" Said male looked down at his shoes in disappointment.  
"What in the world could she have said to you, to make you forget to keep her here man!"  
Telling him would make no difference. "…a friend." The boy muttered, returning to the sidewalk.  
"And you actually believed her!" Gerald rolled his eyes at him angrily. "She obviously set you up man!"

"Never mind that, we should tell the police! Come on Gerald!" Just before he ran ten steps, his mind began to focus, and he looked over his shoulder at the disappeared car. "Wait… that was Grandpa!"

* * *

"Alright, Little Lady, you stay safe, got it?" The old man smiled, waving. "Tell Olga I said hi, too."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to tell her." Helga smiled in return, pulling a fast one on him. "Thanks for the ride, Sir."  
"Oh stop that, call me Phil!" He waved an arm at her as she got out of the car. "Want me to help you?"  
"No, I'm sure I can find my way to which airplane I'm taking to Alaska. Anyway, thank you, _Phil_."

"See—I knew you were a sweet girl!" With that, he drove off to make sure he would not be yelled at.

_'That's because I'm too weak from the gunshot and loss of blood.'_ Helga walked into the airport, sneaking to the luggage area where she found a bag that no one was taking. _'Finders keepers.'_ She tiredly thought as she inspected things in it. Some clothes that might fit, a medical kit, and some money to last her a few days. _'Jackpot.'_ After dressing up the wound that she was lucky enough to go straight through, after she was dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans, she had to fix up her facial appearance so no one would know her. Then it was on to the next step where she would have to wait for a poor sap at a departure door where everyone was tiredly leaving.

"Excuse me," Helga said cutely. Her hair down in waves, her unibrow painfully plucked and trimmed, and an earring on each side of her ears. She received one man's attention that was all too familiar. "Sorry, my name is Hilda, I was wondering if you were coming back from a long trip." He nodded, a little dense. "Would it be alright if I took your ticket? I collect them because it makes me feel like I've been there."

"Ah… no way, no how little girl." He brushed her off, earning an elbow from his wife.  
"Don't be mean Oscar." The woman scolded before handing her own over. "Here you go."  
"Thank you very much!" With that, she walked away quickly to save herself from pain.  
Susie watched her limping away, thinking curiously to herself. "Wasn't that Arnold's friend?"

Either way, it was too late, Helga managed to find a promising destination; Los Angeles, California, where no one would look for her. Although the ticket was a round-trip to Chicago, Illinois, the plan was simple and easy to accomplish as she waited for the opportune moment. The passengers were going to the plane, and as the attendant was about to shut the door, she came running over and screaming for parents—crashing into the woman where the tickets flew everywhere. Helga inwardly smirked at the job well down, but had to look upset as she announced that her family just got on the plane while she was in the bathroom. It was all too easy to be allowed on the plane after she helped her collect all of the tickets while 'trying' to find hers.

Helga took a spot by the window inside the plane, grimacing at the pain in her side. _'So long Football Head…'_ She thought sadly. _'You too, Phoebe…'_ Her mind trailed off to her father and sister that were shot in front of her. _'Goodbye, everyone…'_ She closed her eyes, trying not to silently cry herself to sleep.

As the flight attendant talked down the usual flying routine, Helga's head dipped…

Falling asleep… losing consciousness.

* * *

Arnold waited on the steps of the boarding house for his grandfather to come back. "Grandpa, where's Helga!" He searched through the green Packard, only to see Oscar and Susie coming out of the car.

"Oh, well, she said she was going to see her sister over in Alaska. Thought I'd give her a ride to the airport since I had to go pick up these two." Phil motioned to the married couple. "Why, what's wrong?"  
"Helga shot Grandpa! The cops said her mom was drunk and went crazy before…!" He bit his tongue; it was too horrifying to say aloud. "Her entire family is dead Grandpa, and Helga was badly wounded!"  
"So that's why she looked so pale in the back seat." He muttered in thought before realizing everything. "Holy Guacamole! I left that poor girl at the airport and she was wounded!" Phil could not believe it.  
"Olga was at the house too, so I _know_ Helga was _not_ going to go see her. Unless… she managed to lose her memory from the trauma…" Ugh, if only he had not been so caught up in Helga's generous words!

"So that _was_ your friend that we met at the airport." Susie gasped, placing a hand to her mouth. "I wasn't so sure because she looked different than usual, but she had that tone of voice that made me think of that girl with the pigtails!" She went into deeper thought, remembering things. "Oh no, and she was limping too, that poor thing. Why didn't I think that it was strange—a girl collecting tickets…"

"Collecting?" Arnold asked nervously. "Why was she collecting—" He knew why; she was very clever. "Mrs. Kokoschka, where was your ticket for? Did you come from Chicago?" The boy watched her nod. "You said she looked different—what was so different about her that you almost did know it was her?"

"Well, she didn't wear anything pink. Her hair was down, and she did not have that one brow anymore. She even said that her name was Hilda, so it didn't occur to me until after she was already leaving…" She felt so bad that one of Arnold's friends managed to trick her; it was not hard to trick the people at the airport since they were very friendly there. "I should have caught on when I didn't see any parents…"

"It's okay, you didn't know that it that was her, …or about what happened here for that matter." Arnold could not blame her for not being a responsible adult. It was his own fault that she managed to slip passed him. "I'm going to go inside where the T.V. and phone is, in case someone calls about Helga."

It was unlikely that someone would be calling him about Helga, but there was a small fragment of a chance that Helga might call and ask for help. At least, watching the television for any updates about the hotheaded friend would help him figure out if she had any true leads on where she would go. It was possible that she was going to go to Alaska, it was possible that she was going to go to Illinois, no one knew though. There were only a few people that could slip inside Helga's barriers; enough to know what she wanted, or what she thought about even.

But the problem was: the only one that could probably do that now, was Phoebe.

However, he had no idea how well she was taking the news, if at all.

* * *

"Where did that girl go!" A doctor yelled at the confused nurse. "We just stitched her up—she's too weak to be running around! Get security! Find that girl! Bring her back immediately to recover!"

Helga had fallen unconscious on the trip to the city, and was taken to the emergency room that was closest to the airport that they landed at. Next thing she knew, she was in the recovery room of a hospital; making her change her plans a little because she was determined to stay away from her mother who she did not know had killed herself. When she was wide-awake, an older man was having a heart attack on the opposite side of the room, and she took her chance to grab her things and run. All gunshot wounds were reported, and so she had to leave Los Angeles, California before she could even go sightseeing. Luckily, she managed to escape the hospital before it went on lockdown, and she found herself on the dock of a ferry… so she snuck on without a second thought.

All she could here was, 'Last call for San Lorenzo.'

Minutes later, they departed to the Pacific Ocean, heading down towards Central America where she had no idea that it was going to be an adventure. It was going to be long and tiresome, but surely, she was going to be meeting some exceptionally interesting people as soon as she left the docks. Even though that was not going to happen for a few hours, Helga knew that she was going to be getting more than she ever bargained for. Nonetheless, she merely listened to others chattering merrily about the visit… and something about trying to find some Green-Eyes… who or whatever they were.

_'Sounds like a disease almost…'_ Helga grunted in slight discomfort as she sat on the ground. _'Leaving the country is the best way to make sure that Miriam can't find me…'_ Her eyes began to droop, trying to find a way for her to stay awake was almost impossible. _'Still, why does Green-Eyes sound so familiar to me?'_

Before another thought could pass her way, a boy with bright green eyes appeared in front of her, talking to her in another language before speaking English. It turned out that the boy was going home to San Lorenzo with his mother because there was trouble there that was harming the people. Helga felt the urge to help, but she pulled out her locket that held Arnold's picture—contemplating if she really wanted to help them or not. The boy looked and gasped before calling his mother over to look at the locket of the football headed boy; she too, gasped. Nervous about the two, she put the locket away, claiming that she had a feeling that Arnold would most likely want her to help them. As _soon_ as she said his name, the mother nearly fainted while mentioning that this was a dream come true—that their people were to be saved. Of course, none of this made sense to Helga right now, and so the boy and his mother sat down on the deck with her with bright smiles.

For the next few hours, the mother began telling her all of the stories that she knew of.

It surprised Helga that she would be able to stay awake long enough to listen to her.

* * *

_"Police are saying that down in L.A. in California, doctors say they treated a mystery girl two days ago from a gunshot wound after finding her unconscious in a plane." The reporter stated in amazement. "It is unclear, but police officers are almost positive that the girl happened to be Helga Pataki, the missing child of a horrid tradgedy a drunk mother killing the family before shooting herself—"_

Arnold turned off the television, tired of hearing the same thing constantly; he wanted to know where she was at, and if she was okay. It was understandable that she would run away from home if she thought that her mother was after her. The best guess was that she did not know that her mother took her own life away after having shooting down the family members. He had no idea upon what was going through her head; he had no idea was she was trying to accomplish by putting herself in danger like this.

The chances of her knowing anyone in Los Angeles were not good—there were so many bad things that could happen to her. This was his entire fault, he should not have been so distracted when she decided to call him her friend for the first time ever. There was no way that he would be able to forgive himself if the next thing he heard on the news was Helga no longer alive. Thinking hard on everything that he could or could not have done for her was pointless, and so he went up to his room quietly.

For the first time ever, he felt like he hated himself.

As he was passing through a room, there was a knock on the front door, so he came over to see whom it was this time. To his surprise, however, Phoebe seemed to look a little more than upset about all the things that were happening so suddenly. Two days ago she lost all connections with her best friend, hearing that it was possible that she was dead somewhere out in the big world. It killed her to think like this because she would have done everything that she could in order to help her friend out of the mess.

"Hi… Phoebe…" He whispered almost uncomfortably. "Um, did you hear the news? There's a really high possibility that they found her in California." There was no remark, and he frowned. "But she ran off."  
"It's not your fault." Said petite female stated quietly. "You know Helga. When she wants something, she'll do anything to get it—well, almost anything." Phoebe knew one thing that was not Helga's…  
Arnold saw how upset that she was getting from this. "I'm sorry about what happened, I've been staying home to be around the phones and T.V. as if she'd find a way to contact me. But I know that's stupid…"

"No, it's not stupid at all. I appreciate your efforts." Her attention turned to the street where their friends and classmates walked around like ghosts it seemed. "It doesn't seem so lively here with Helga gone. Then again, I should have seen the trouble brewing before it happened." She sighed exhaustedly. "Her family was so complicated and stressful that it's no wonder why her mother snapped, but to…"

"What do you mean complicated and stressful?" He puzzled at this. "I thought she was just mouthing."

"No…" For a moment, she thought about telling him about Helga's family life. The chances of her ever coming home though seemed impossible. "I'm sure you could tell that her mother was an alcoholic, and her father wasn't the greatest person either." Phoebe hesitated before taking in a deep breath…

Then started to tell him everything about her family problems.

* * *

"So wait a minute, you're telling me that Arnold's parents are in trouble, and I'm some sort of Goddess sent here to help you guys help this… Green-Eyes tribe of yours?" Helga tried asking, following the boy and his mother. "Sure, I've done my share of adventures, but those were in the city, not the jungle. I wouldn't be able to keep myself alive with all the dangers that are out there—I would be killed for sure!"

"We remaining Green-Eyes will teach you to be like us. You will save the others." The mother stated with a rough Spanish accent. "You were sent to us for a reason. Come. You will start bright in the morning."

She growled unhappily at the demands that this woman was placing on her—this woman would not even listen to her when she said that she was injured. However, after hearing that Arnold's parents were in trouble as well as most of the Green-Eyes tribe, Helga felt obligate to help them in any way. Obviously, she was going to be going through Hell with the so-called training that she would have to go through to save others. Helga intended to go back to Hilwood, Washington after she was mentally and physically strong enough to get revenge on her drunken mother who killed their family.

"How long will I have to train then?" She could not believe she was doing this.  
"Every day for a few years. You have five years at the most. They cannot—"  
Helga snorted. "If it's going to take that long, then I'll finish in three years."  
"That's the spirit!"The boy cheered merrily at her serious attitude to this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 02**

**Come Back to Me**

**Now—**

Almost everyone gave up on where Helga G. Pataki was once everyone had heard that police lost track of her in Los Angeles, California. It was possible that she was dead after five long years, but it was equally just as possible that she managed to get away from their search. No one knew which of the two options to believe; no one really thought about her anymore to be honest… just a hand full of classmates.

However, that was going to change right now.

Helga returned with Miles and Stella, Arnold's parents.

"This old place hasn't changed a bit!" Miles went in to the Sunset Arms boarding house, inhaling the nearly forgotten scent of home. "Dad, I'm home! What's for dinner!" He joked, laughing happily.

There was a large crash in the kitchen, followed by a stampede from two elders that ran to the entrance to see their son and his wife. The family hugged and embraced one another with tears of joy after not having seen each other for the longest time ever. Helga on the other hand, smiled weakly before having decided that it was time for her to greet her mother with a surprise visit. This very motion of silently leaving was hardly noticed until Stella attempted to motion the girl that had rescued them. They all went to the steps to see her walking away, and they called out for her to return—calling her by name.

"Come on Helga, you know we don't bite!" Miles laughed constantly; thrilled to be home. "There's no way that we're going to let you live at that house you left! You can stay here for as long as you want with no charge!" She looked at him confusedly, then to the other family members. "Hey, you're family!"

She did not want to feel that way, and they knew this.

"H-H-Helga? Ya mean that little girl that always wore pink and who'd harass Arnold before she ran away from home!" Phil slapped his head, staring at the beautiful young woman. Then thought on it a little bit more. "You mean to tell me that this girl managed to save you two!" The old man looked at her, his eyes squinted as he tried to contemplate something—if anything. "Glad to see you come back! And I'll be making sure that I get you back for tricking me all those years ago when you were leaving Hilwood!"

Arnold's parents laughed. "She told us all about that almost two years ago." His stomach growled. "Ah, as I was saying… what's for dinner—oof!" His wife elbowed him in the ribs for his rudeness. "W-What?"  
"Dad," Stella asked sweetly. "Where is Arnold? Is he at school?" The old man nodded. "I guess we should stay here and surprise him." She looked to Helga. "I'm sure he would like to see you too Helga, okay?"  
"I have to go visit my mom," the teen answered calmly as she started to turn away with a curt nod. "I have nowhere else to go… so I guess I'll come back here after paying her a long awaited visit, Stella."  
"You mean you don't know?" Phil stared at her in surprise when hearing her say this. "After killing your sister and your father, she put the gun to her head and finished herself off. Cops were looking for you!"

"I escaped the hospital undetected and took a ferry to Central America—to San Lorenzo. On the ferry, I met a boy and his mother, and they told me everything about what happened." Helga answered without emotion. "Figuring it was best to do the right thing… I trained to be like the Green-Eyes for a few years until it was cut short by an attack. Knowing the tasks that I had to do, I dealt with it as I went along."

"In any case, she saved us three two ago, and we've been helping the Green-Eyes get back on their feet." Miles came over to her, patting her shoulders as he coaxed her back to the boarding house. "She's a real hero! And she deserves a meal that's fit for a Queen!" Again, his stomach growled loudly at them.

Everyone laughed at this, and Gertie told everyone to come inside so she could fix a special lunch for them as a celebration for their return. Helga almost shyly asked if there was something light to nibble on for her instead since her stomach would have to adapt to produces that were oily and greasy. Thankfully though, Miles and Stella agreed to this; explaining that eating food that you have to catch and cook on your own was something they had been eating—other than fruits and vegetables. When Gertie offered some pancakes, they somewhat perked, but were cautious of the butter and syrup that they would have to add. Miles asked if they had any fish to cook, but there was none right now, so they asked about boar or snake… and it was making his parents sick.

Helga turned her gaze away, muttering to herself loudly. "It's been a long time since I've had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich." The four stared at her curiously. "Not that I want one. I'd prefer melon or—"  
"A sandwich sounds good, it has been a long time since we had one." Stella agreed to her choice. "At least we're used to bread and jam. Peanut butter should be no probably for us to keep in our stomachs."  
"Then it's settled! We'll have two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Mom!" Miles grinned—acting like a child. "And when Arnold comes home from school, we'll tell him about all our adventures tonight!"  
Amused by this, Helga had to ask. "Does that involve the time you thought you could _hunt_ boar for dinner?" She watched the man cross his arms with a faint blush. "You couldn't sit for a week, Miles."

"…let's not tell him the _embarrassing_ stories." He grumbled sorely; not wanting to remember.  
"But Miles, the only things that were embarrassing, were the things that happened to you." Stella stated casually. "Like the time a frog jumped on your face and you thought it was a dart frog? You hit yourself."  
"That was… on purpose! Helga had a bad morning, so I was trying to cheer her up!" The man snorted.  
"She was summoned by the Chief to go on a hunt with the warriors, Dear, you know the warriors were jealous of her being a better hunter than them." She laughed. "It's a shame we can't hunt here though."

"Here's your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!" Gertie cheered.  
Helga's nose scrunched. "Is this strawberry jelly?" She saw her nod.  
"Oh… sorry Mom, Helga's allergic to strawberries. Is there any grape?"

"As a matter of fact, I bought some the other day!" She fixed up a new batch. "Just give the other sandwiches to Abner or Miles." Gertie laughed, and Helga slid the plate next to Miles. "Isn't this nice?"  
"Can't wait to see the look on Arnold's face when he gets home!" Phil slapped his knee with joy. "All he's been doing is moping and sulking for five darn years! He's been taking this too seriously for his age!"  
Helga folded her arms on the table and rested her head on them. "That sounds like Arnold alright. I bet he's been hoping for a day where I would return or something." She sighed tiredly—almost exhaustedly.  
"Oh, he has been. And that little redhead has been at Arnold's side for a little over a year." Gertie stated as she gave Helga her sandwiches. "That sweet girl with freckles that's most likely the Devil's incarnate."  
"So Arnold's back with Lila, that's not a surprise." She muttered before taking a bite of her sandwich. "With me out of the picture, she could have him. It's only fitting since I was the bully when I was a kid."  
"You're not going to take that lying down, are you Helga?" Stella frowned; these four knew she had liked Arnold when she was younger. "Especially when Mom here agrees with you about that girl?"

Helga finished her sandwiches quietly, stood up to wash and dry her plate, and looked at the time before heading out of the boarding house. It was obvious to the others that she was going to go investigate the high school that her friends went to, but Stella chased after her to change her mind. She convinced her to go to a clothing store to pick out some new attire since she had way outgrown the clothes from when she was a girl. Even though Helga still hated going to stores, she decided to go anyway, and managed to find many clothes for her. Stella told her that they would work on her room, but for the time being, she might have to share until it was finished for her.

"I know you like high places to see the stars, and the only place where that's possible, is the attic." She frowned. "But knowing you, you'll escape through the night and be sleeping on the balcony, right?"  
"The attic you're talking about is Arnold's room, he fixed it up in third grade." Helga stated quietly, looking at the dress that she was in. "The last time I had to sleep ten feet away from him, was Hell."  
This made the older female gasp in surprise for never being told about this. "Children of the opposite gender shouldn't sleep together." But she realized what she said. "Even though we had to do that…"  
"Yeah, I was stuck sleeping with a majority of the other hunters." She pulled the dress off to put in the good pile. "It was an experiment. Arnold and I were stuck in a greenhouse for twenty-four hours alone."  
"That sounds exciting." She laughed; imaging the two trying to get along with Helga's nearly forgotten temper. "Maybe you and I can share his room together and he can sleep in my room with Miles. Okay?"

"I don't need to sleep in a room, Stella." The teen put on a white shirt and baggy khaki pants. "I can sleep on the roof, and change in my room or something by using the fire escape." Deciding that these were going to be her favorite clothes, she ripped the tags off so she could wear them on their way out. "Or if I manage to have a hammock or something in my room, then I'll sleep in there and be out of the way whenever you guys work on the room." She thought on things. "Do I have to go to high school?"

"Yup! Someone has to watch over my baby boy!"

Helga growled lightly.

* * *

"Hey Arnold! Long time no see!" Miles called as he entered the hallway. He had been staring out the window to watch for him to come home, and he saw the girl holding his hand. "Oh… this must be… Miss Lila Sawyer!" She seemed a little too innocent though, but he shook her hand. "It's nice to meet my son's girlfriend, I've heard quite a bit about you actually." He had a bad feeling about her to be honest.

"D-Dad…?" Arnold dropped his book and released Lila's hand. "When—how—is this really happening?"  
"Yup, sure is! Look at you, you are practically a man now! She described you very well!" He grinned slyly.  
Although he wanted to jump into his arms, he was confused. "Who described me to you? Grandma?"  
"No, no!" The man laughed. "I'll give you a clue! What was it she called you… Hair-boy? No… um…"

"Miles! Stella took that girl over to the police department and now she's on every bleeping channel!" Phil raged. "I was trying to watch that darn soap! Maria was finally about to confess to Gregory!"  
"I thought they were going to do that tomorrow—what do you mean they're on the television!" He came into the room followed by the two teenagers that just walked in the boarding house. "Uh oh…"  
"Hey—that's Mom! Who the girl that's with her?" Arnold smiled curiously. "Was she the one that told you about me?" His father nodded. "But I've never seen her before!" Anxiously, he watched the news.

_"As if she was back from the grave from almost six years ago, the missing child's case had been solved. At the tender age of ten, Helga Pataki had escaped her mother's rampage with a gunshot wound to the side. It seems that she managed to get a plane ticket to fly to Los Angeles, California, where she woke up in the hospital." _The camera focused on the teenage female who was slowly getting cranky, and the police were trying to keep the reporters away._ "Moments ago, she explained to us what happened. She left the hospital and jumped on a ferry that led her to San Lorenzo where her former classmate's parents were being held captive by someone she would not name. When we asked her—look!" _The camera operator kept the focus on the girl who climbed up a tree, jumped on a fire escape, and climbed up a rooftop before running and jumping on building tops. _"When we asked her what took her so long to come back, she didn't answer us!" _The woman rolled her eyes._ "Never mind that, let's follow her! Hurry!"_

Miles laughed loudly at this. "I have never seen her avoid curious followers!" He calmed down his laughter before turning to look at his son. "Well then, can you guess now who described you to us?"  
The football headed boy's mouth was wide open for the longest time, "t-t-that… that was H-Helga?"  
"You mean to say that Helga was ever so very much alive?" Lila gasped. "She's been in San Lorenzo?"  
"How she tells it. A woman and her son met her on the ferry and asked her to help the Green-Eyes and us. When she heard about us being Arnold's parents, she trained with the tribe to come save us."

Arnold was still in disbelief of everything that he did not know what to do; his parents were back home where they belonged, and Helga was back too! His mind was going in all sorts of directions that he did not know what he should be happier about when he heard the news. Helga found herself in San Lorenzo of all places, and managed to rescue his parents and the Green-Eyes from trouble? She was going to be his best friend in the entire world the next time he ever saw her, and he hoped it was going to be soon.

The front door opened, Stella sighed tiredly. "Poor Helga, those news reporters were getting on her last nerve." She set the bags down to rest her arms. "After she told me that she was going to drive them all away, I was lucky enough to get here without being bothered!" As she walked in the room, she looked at her husband. "Can you take Helga's things to her room? Oh, and we have to find a temporary room for her to sleep in. I was going to offer her the attic but she said that it's Arnold's—Arnold!" She finally took notice of her staring son, and she ran over to embrace him happily. "It's so good to see my baby boy!"

"I-It's good to see you t-too Mom!" Arnold replied as the life was being squeezed out of him.  
"So where's Helga now? Without Rio to bug her, I thought she would have come in." Miles frowned.  
"You know Helga, where's the one place she loves to be!" Stella smiled. "Oh, and I bought some fish!"  
"A place she loves… I don't know, but it has to be high…" He snapped his fingers. "I bet that's it!"  
"Well, she mentioned something about visiting Phoebe first, and then a nap to be specific."

Once his mother released him from a death grip, the teen male managed to breathe. "W-What…" he coughed. "Is going… on?" He coughed again for trying to take in too much needed air after that hug.  
"Well, since Helga doesn't have family here—and she _did_ rescue us. We told her to move into the Sunset Arms boarding house!" Stella clasped her hands together. "But her room needs some remodeling first."  
"I think I'll come visit you later Arnold," Lila kissed the boy on the cheek. "It was ever so nice to meet your parents today!" Arnold may not have heard it, but there was slight spite in that pretty tone of hers.  
His parents paid her no attention though. "I told her that I could share Arnold's room with her, but she doesn't want him to leave his room, but you know how much she likes the sky." She frowned at Miles.  
"They can share a room, can't they? Helga slept in a room with male warriors and hunters, I'm sure they can get along for two weeks or so." Her husband smiled nervously. "We trust the both of them, right?"  
"I already heard that they had to sleep in a greenhouse together for a night as it is." Stella crossed her arms. "But you know how she is at night, and she doesn't want to disturb Arnold during the time either."

"I don't mind sharing my room with her," Arnold somewhat nudged his way in the conversation. "In fact, I can sleep on the couch and she can take my bed." He smiled pleasingly; he would do anything for her after what she had done for him. "But to her, I think the couch would be more comfortable, um…"

The two laughed. "If she stayed in your room, she would try to find a place off flooring." Stella smiled weakly. "She likes hard surfaces, but she prefers sleeping in her hammock that she brought with her."  
"That's okay, go ahead and find a place in my room to put it for a while!" He was so excited that it had caught them all off guard. "I'll be sure to let her know that I'm at her beck and call! She's the greatest!"  
Miles blinked at the overjoyed teenager before looking over at his wife. "I thought there was conflict between the two, now their suddenly best friends without seeing each other yet? I'm a little lost."  
"I've been worried to death about you guys and Helga, but I get all of you back—on the same day! And it's all thanks to Helga!" Arnold stated loudly, but the opposite of aggressive. "I can't thank her enough!"

"Hey Shortman, you might wanna bring the girl home before them wannabe thugs find her." Phil stated.  
"Thugs?" Miles and Stella questioned. "You mean there are actual thugs around this area? How weird…"  
"Yeah, they've been harassing girls my age." Arnold started to head out. "I'll go get her right now—"  
"Oh, don't do that Arnold, it's not necessary. What if she wants to stay the night at her friend's house?"  
That had not occurred to him; he wanted to see her so badly that he was not thinking right. "…okay."  
"Hey, don't worry, she can take care of herself." Stella laughed. "You're father knows that for sure."

"Yeah… had a sore back the rest of the week because I startled her while she was sleeping."

* * *

"Hello, Phoebe? Is Helga there?" Arnold did not mean to call so late, but he was curious, and worried. Phoebe, on the other hand, said that she left hours ago to go to the boarding house. "Oh. Okay, sorry." If she returned to the boarding house _hours_ ago, maybe she was sleeping in her room, even though her hammock was set to be above his bed since it was safer than falling on his desk. _'Where could she be…'_ He thought to himself, but passed the kitchen where his parents were talking. "Helga's not at Phoebe's, and she said she left hours ago, and she's not in her room." They looked at him and laughed softly.

"She's probably on the roof asleep." Stella answered.  
Miles warned him though. "Be careful if you wake her."  
"Yeah, I know." Arnold went his room. _'Grumpy wake ups.'_

He walked up stairs and up into his room before lifting the window to look around—only to find her five feet in front of him. His cheeks reddened with unwanted thoughts that had made its ugly appearance during his puberty, causing him to look at her more closely. Helga was lying on her back with her arms behind her head so that she could face the stars, making her female features stand out a little bit. Her hair was long and wavy from where he could see from his spot half way out of his large bedroom…

"If I was asleep, I would have attacked you for staring at me."

Arnold jumped back at her voice piercing the silence, and he fell on the hammock that was set up for his room guest. He looked up to see her looking at him with a raised brow; she looked fiercer than when they were kids, but she looked so womanly now. His cheeks turned a few more shades redder than moments ago as he realized he made himself look like an idiot in front of her. The boy was about to convince her to come in, but the sound of a helicopter interrupted him—though it made her get inside.

"Wow, it's warm in here." Helga commented almost curiously. "I forgot about heaters."  
He shakily flipped himself around on the hammock to look at her. "H-Hi Helga. I-It's good to see you."  
"You too, Arnold." She placed her hands on her hips, leaning towards a side. "What are you doing?"  
"Uh…" That was an excellent question, and he attempted to sit up. He was too scared. "H-Hanging?"

Her eyes rolled. "You're just like Rio." She climbed up and steadied the hammock. "There, get off."  
"N-No way! Are you crazy!" Due to the insult, she let go of the side. "W-Wait, I'm sorry! Please help me!"  
"How do you propose that I help you? Do you want me to catch you instead?" Oh was she the devil…  
"N-No, of course not! I probably weigh more than you!" This was his first time on a hammock, sadly.

Her patience was thinning. "I want to go to sleep on my hammock since reporters are looking for me. Either I flip you out, you crawl out, or you sleep against me." She slowly rocked the hammock. "Since you are in a relationship with Little Miss Perfect, I don't want her germs from you on me, so the last one is out of the question. Besides that, you'd still have to get off in the morning in order to get to school."

He tried to think, only to smile sheepishly. "C-Can't I sleep up here?"  
"…no." Helga flipped him off, and he landed on the bed below. "Pervert."  
"I am not a pervert! I can't believe you just threw me off that now, either!"  
"Why are you complaining? You were like a cat on floating ice in an ocean, jeez."

He opened his mouth to retort so their argument could continue, but closed it in order to give her a big silly grin that he could not hold back. It was great having her back in his life after five years of sulking; it was almost as if nothing had changed between them. As if they were capable of picking up where they left off when she ran away, but there was still one thing that he had yet to hear from her. She was mildly scowling at him with semi-mistrust to his goofy grin before lying on her back to stare at the stars quietly.

_'Must know that I still change into my pajamas.'_ Arnold turned away to change his clothes, constantly looking over his shoulder to see if she was peaking or not. "So… how did you like San Lorenzo?"  
"It was fine, I guess." She mumbled tiredly with her eyes closed. "Their diets there were less fattening than this place." Her body shivered. "I couldn't believe Miles ate four sandwiches when we got here."  
As he put his pajama bottoms on, he pondered on that. "You seem to be close friends with my parents. I bet they're just as grateful to you like I am, huh? Thank you for rescuing them!" He finished dressing.  
"Stop being so loud, it is after sunset. I wake up at sunrise." Helga took in a deep calming breath to sooth herself from any possible annoyances. "It's been a long day, get some sleep. You have school."

"But Helga, don't you have to get into your pajamas? "

She growled before putting her hair up in a neat bun to protect it, and carefully removed her shirt to reveal a light gray sports bra. If he was going to be a pest, then she was going to be doing the same damn thing to him whether he liked it or not. His face went shades redder than before, and he dazedly walked to his bed—tripping over the edge and face planting on it like an idiot. After he eventually got himself settled under the covers, and looked at the female tease above him in the hammock.

"Goodnight Helga," He called cheerfully; hoping to provoke her.  
"Goodnight," said girl mumbled tiredly, making the boy frown.  
This time, he tried to get her to say his nickname. "Goodnight Helga."  
A soft growl emitted from her throat. "I said, goodnight, Arnold."

_'Almost there, she'll say it for sure!'_ He wanted to hear her insult him so badly. "Goodnight Helga!"

That was the last straw, and she leaned over the hammock's side to look at him, her chest in his view. "Goodnight Arnold." Helga spoke sweetly while he was now dumbstruck at the sight. "Sweet dreams."

His entire body felt so red and hot from what his now-impure eyes stared at, causing him to throw the covers over his face. He acted as if he was being burned alive for the moment before passing out finally after pestering her so much to provoke her aggression. Helga knew what to do from now on if she would ever need to get Arnold off her shoulders—and chest, thankfully. This was going to be too much fun for her that it almost seemed like a sin that she could live with for the rest of her life… oh well!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 03**

**Come Back to Me**

**Now—**

"So, how have you liked school for the past week Helga? You've been back in Hilwood for almost a month now." Phoebe smiled happily at her best friend while holding her books. "Need any help?"  
"Nah, anytime there's something I don't understand, Arnold comes out of nowhere to help. But I can't believe I forgot how tight schedules were." Said girl sighed tiredly. "I still think I have to hunt for lunch!"  
The girls all laughed at this as they remember what she said her schedule was back in San Lorenzo. "Don't worry, you'll get used to our plain, boring, old schedule someday!" The girls laughed more.  
"Are you kidding me? I'm still getting used to using the phone, the microwave—the door!" Everyone in hearing range had laughed at this at this. "Anyway, what's been going on with everyone around here?"  
"Phoebe and Gerald have been getting in more fights that are constant now." Sheena frowned; hating the thought of violence. "They got into it before you got to school this morning, it was so horrible."

"Alright, you want to know how to win an argument against guys?" The five girls crowded her more. "The _best_ way to win, is to lift your shirt, and show them what you got. It works _every_ time!" Helga watched the girls laughed hard at this; not believing what she said. Arnold and Gerald happened to be passing by and hearing the girls all giddy, so they started to come over out of curiosity. Helga continued. "I'm serious! Especially if they're the innocent type! Lift your shirt up when you know you have his full attention in the heat of the argument, and show him your rack. He'll shut up, and you win the argument, it's easy!" She grinned widely. Still unaware of the two males approaching their talk. "I mean, really! For example, every single time I have some bizarre argument with—"

Arnold literally jumped into their conversation, smiling. "Good morning everyone!"  
"Good morning Arnold!" They giggled as they had their suspicions of Helga's victim.  
Gerald snorted and waved an arm at Helga. "That wouldn't work on me, that's just dumb!"  
Amused by this, Helga placed her hands on her hips. "Is that so, Gerald?" This smiled sweetly.  
"Helga… please don't." Arnold held her hand to make sure that she would keep her shirt down.

"Actually, I have to agree with Helga." Phoebe stated confidently for her best friend.  
Her boyfriend seemed disappointed, and glared. "_No_, it wouldn't, Phoebe."  
"Yes, _Gerald_, I think it would." To prove it, she lifted her shirt to show her bra to him.

Arnold saw this coming and buried his face into Helga's shoulder to shield his eyes from seeing another girl's breasts—even _if_ a bra was involved. Over the past month since Helga and his parents returned into his life, he had been desperate to get the nickname 'Football Head' to slip pass her lips. When he would try too hard or too long, she would flash him and he would be scarred for the next two or so hours. It was not long before he heard something fall to the ground, but he was too scared to uncover his eyes.

"It's okay, Arnold." Helga called, patting his shoulder. "She put her shirt down."

Hearing this, he removed himself while keeping his gaze on the ground—seeing Gerald lying there as if he just died, but really, he only fainted. The girls laughed and high-fived one another for the great little success of power that Phoebe found against Gerald now. It was rare, but Helga used to give out good advice occasionally five years ago before she ventured out into the world.

"Can I talk to you for a moment, alone?" Arnold took her hand that he shortly had abandoned to hide his not so virgin-eyes, and dragged her away. When they went to a separate hallway of the building, he had to talk to her firmly. "Helga, that was the worst advice, _ever_. I can't believe you told Phoebe to do that!"

"No, the worst advice is to eat spoiled food." She joked. Arnold's grandfather ate expired food yesterday and had been in the bathroom ever since. "I didn't tell Phoebe what to do, it was just a little suggestion."  
"Are you serious? Do you not have any respect for yourself or your friend's bodies? What if someone was looking at Phoebe other than Gerald—what if _I_ was looking? I have a girlfriend and you know it!"  
The look on her face made him worry as she took a stepped towards him. "Breasts are natural. The human body is a beautiful thing. If someone wants to admire that, I see no harm in it, _Arnold_."  
"No, and I completely agree with you, but this is school! It's not appropriate for a place like this—" she smirked at this, catching him off guard. "What?" He saw her shake her head at him. "What is it?"

"You say it's not appropriate at school, so it's okay back at Sunset Arms?" Helga tried not to laugh. "I have respect for my body. But it's up to you whether you look away or stare. I do it to shut you up."  
"Yeah, well," his cheeks flushed. "It's not going to work on me next time…" As soon as she raised a brow to his statement, his eyes averted. "Okay, maybe it will. But can we not have this discussion at school?"  
"You're the one that dragged me over here to talk about it. Let me point something out to you, though." She casually stuffed her hands in her pockets. "You complained about Phoebe flashing, not about me."  
"I—" Contemplating, he realized that she got him there, and it started to make him a little frustrated. "I can only talk about one topic at a time. Besides, you're the reason Phoebe even bothered to do that!"  
"Whatever you say, Arnold." She caught glimpse of Lila a few feet away. "Anyway, I have to get to class. See you at home." Briefly waving over her shoulder, she passed Little Miss Perfect, slightly scowling.

Lila also returned a slight glare as the blond-haired female walked by her—who nearly bumping into her but decided not to bother. If she actually bumped into her, then she would have had an earful from the dense optimistic boy that she lived with at the boarding house. It did not matter how Helga had Arnold's parents _and_ grandparents on her side when it came towards little Lila Sawyer, she was done. Helga had trained to the point of learning boundaries… she trained, fought, and battled to survive the dangers of the jungles.

That was why she was tired of fighting. _'If she wants him, fine.'_ Helga inwardly smiled. _'What we have now is more than what I can ask for.'_ Being engulfed in her thoughts, she almost did not see the male that she was about to crash into. His white sweater was tinted yellow from the window that caused her to think of a predator. _'Jaguar.'_ She took a quick step back before doing three back flips before she reached to her side for her poison darts, but forgot that she did not have any with her. _'Crap!'_

"Hey—hold on there, girl, jeez." The guy looked her over. "You're that new sophomore girl, aren't you?" He looked her up and down. "The one that came from Central America, right?" His face seemed gentle.  
It took her a moment before sighing in relief. "Uh… yeah, sorry about that." Helga held her head as she was slightly embarrassed. "I saw yellow and thought you were a jaguar or puma. Sorry about that."  
"Yellow?" His attention went to his attire to see the color on his white sweater because of the tinted yellow windows. "Guess I should wear I different color. I thought you were about to attack me, girl."  
"Had you not spoken, I might have. It just would have been harder to kill you without my poison darts." The ten-minute warning bell rang. "I should go to class, again, sorry about mistaking you as a big cat—"  
He grabbed her wrist so she would not run off. "Hey, what's your hurry—" Before he could blink, she grabbed his arm and flipped him on his back, pinning his shoulder blades down with her knee. "Ow!"

"Helga!" Arnold called out after watching the scene with Lila. "Helga, you're hurting him!"

Her concentration broke quick enough to have her withdrawn her form without causing injuries to her victim; she was not used to being grabbed by others. As the senior student stood up, Arnold realized that this was the most dangerous person at school that Helga managed to take down—and in public. It was going to be hard to explain things to this aggressive older student, but he had to try to make him understand that she did not mean to do it. All the while, Lila was somewhat waiting for a fight between Helga at the older student, but it was never coming.

The blond-haired female knew what the male one was going to do, and she growled. "I'm sorry." She apologized loudly, obviously sore about it. "I haven't been in an environment where people can't speak without touching others." Helga looked to the senior. "It's safer when people do not touch me. I already broke someone's arm by accident outside school." The five-minute bell soon rang. "I should go."

"Wear darker colors and don't touch you," the senior smirked. "Anything else that I should know?"  
Helga slightly glared at him at the hint of flirtation. "Yes," she smiled happily at him. "Don't hit on me."  
The senior's friend laughed and patted his shoulder as she walked away. "You just got burned Gunner!"  
"Quiet Leon." He growled before walking off to the staircase privately to complain about being thrown.  
Leon chuckled at this before whispering to two others, "hey Tim, Tony, you guys think he's hurting?"  
Tim scratched the back of his head nervously. "I wasn't paying attention to him… um… I was… uh…"  
"You were checking out that chick!" Tony wrapped an arm around his friend's neck. "Want her Timmy?"  
"Oh shut up Tony!" He shoved him off, blushing angrily. "I'm going to be late for my computer class!"  
"Okay Timmy! Say 'hi' to Abby for me!" Tony grinned widely, only to be kicked by Leon. "Ow! What w—"  
"Don't pick on Tim, _Anthony_." Leon looked over at the stairway. "Looks like he's interested in her, too."  
"No surprise there—she just kicked his butt!" He laughed, earning another kick. "Will you stop that!"  
"No." With that, he walked off with his hands in his pockets. "We're going to be late for class now."

Arnold glared at them as they all left; he did not like how the seniors were interested in Helga, however, there was nothing that he could do about it. Besides, he had already recently learned that she was quite capable of taking care of herself… now more than ever. He decided that he would have to keep a more watchful eye on her with all these seniors starting to poke their nose in her direction.

His head turned to Lila. "Uh… I have to go to class, sorry Lila." He ran off so he would not be late.

Lila, on the other hand, was not pleased with this at all.

* * *

Things were surprisingly peaceful for the boys that were eating at the bench under large tree that gave them a lot of shade to hide from the sun. Gerald stole one of Arnold's burritos in exchange for some of his chips; all of the boys traded food one way or another before starting a conversation. Unfortunately, for Arnold, the subject was the same thing as it was all week… Helga Pataki, Helga Pataki, Helga Pataki.

"Get back here you wretched girl!" A European accented voice yelled angrily.

The group turned to see who was yelling at whom, but a flash of yellow, white, and khaki came charging towards them. Speak of the Devil, it was Helga, and all of the boys dived from the bench in case she was going to jump over it, but that was not quite right. Helga jumped off the bench and climbed the large tree to get away from the man that was chasing her around; her former manager.

"Oh that was beautiful! So graceful, and so powerful! I love it!" It was Johnny Stitches, and Helga was not too pleased about it. "Cameraman! Tell me you're taking pictures! Look at that strong cat-like pose!"

She yelled at him in a different language before pulling out something that looked like a straw, and striking the camera with a dart; shattering the lens. The camera operator screamed in horror at how she destroyed his camera, making Johnny yell at him for being a buffoon before looking up at Helga again. It took him by surprise to see that she vanished from the tree as if she jumped off and ran away to escape the idiotic man. He nearly cursed as he ran blindly into a direction that he believed she went in while the camera operator sadly followed him in tears.

"Gosh… took my eyes off her for a second and she disappears." Stinky blinked confusedly.  
"Never mind that, Stinky!" Sid grabbed everyone's attention. "What did she even say!"  
Arnold shrugged; not knowing. "I think it was the native tongue of the Green-Eyes?"  
"I swear man, if I wasn't in love with Phoebe, I'd ask Helga out." Gerald smooth talked.

"But you're in a relationship with Phoebe, so I can ask her out first! Ah-ha-ha-ha-hah!" Curly laughed like the demented little psycho that he was. "She's so hot that she puts Rhonda Lloyd to shame I tell you!"

"Mhmm, I hear that." The cool one nodded at the truth. "Man, back for a month and she like the best thing in the neighborhood. What's more, she doesn't pick on us no more! She downright protects us!"  
"Yeah, like the other day when Wolfgang approached me to take my money? Boy howdy you should've seen her!" Sid was obviously excited. "He ran out of the cafeteria so fast, I almost died from laughter."  
"Hey Arnold, what's it like with Helga living in the boardin' house?" Stinky asked before taking a bite of his lemon pudding. "Does she harass ya any? Or does she just stay in 'er room all day like a hermit?"

"Actually, she's all over the place. We do homework in my room since she's not used to the academics from being away too long. After that she's either in her room or on the roof for a nap." Arnold tired to think of things a little more. "I guess around dinner time she gets a little rowdy. Her and my dad tend to wrestle before it's time to eat. My mom sometimes has trouble separating them because they always have to do some weird challenge—and before anyone asks, Helga _always_ wins." He sighed quietly.

"Of course she always wins! She's Helga!" Harold called out—suddenly, said girl landed by the bench.

"AH!" All the boys cried out in horror, falling over themselves as they tried to flee the bench area.

Helga scowled at Arnold, "is there anything else you want to tell them? Like what I have to do before I can go to sleep?" She was obviously mad; her daily schedule was now everyone's knowledge. "Well?"  
"I… I didn't mean to upset you—I didn't think it was harmful… I-I'm sorry." There was a certain glint in her eye. It meant trouble, but so far he had been lucky to avoid it. "I-I won't tell them anything else."  
"Either you tell them what I have to do, or I'll tell them _your_ schedule, starting with before you wake up in the morning." That said, Arnold's face turned ten shades redder. "What's it going to be, _Arnold_?"  
Defeated, he looked to his meal. "Since I don't have to ask my parents about what happened all that time they've been away. I ask Helga to tell me stories about her time in San Lorenzo. I always pass out."

Her eyes rolled at this before mildly complaining. "No kidding, you make me go into detail for so long that even I fall asleep sometimes." She shrugged it off. "Anyway, with that idiot gone, I can finally go get some food from the cafeteria." As she was about to leave, everyone offered some food of some sort. "N-No thanks, I think I can only manage fruit right now. Breakfast was too greasy for my stomach to take."

"I got some watermelon slices here from my garden if you'd like that." Stinky offered, holding it out.  
They saw her face light up at the offer. "Thank you," she replied almost shyly as she took the meal.  
"Hey Helga, think you can tell _us_ a story?" Sid asked curiously. "It's not fair that only Arnold hears them."  
"Um, I don't know what you guys would want to know. I don't have too many fun stories." She frowned.  
Gerald crossed his arms, tempting her. "What was the scariest moment when you were over there?"

"Probably when a jaguar attacked me." Helga smiled weakly before setting the slice of watermelon down, whereas the boys all dropped theirs—and mouths. She peeled off her shirt, but before Arnold could tell her 'not now,' she revealed that she was wearing a tank top with spaghetti straps. "I was on my way to go fishing." After setting the shirt on her lap, she put her hair up in a ponytail, and slid the tank top and bra straps down on her right side. "He snuck up on me and took a bite out of my shoulder."

"Daaaamn…" Gerald stared at the scars. "How'd you get away?"

"I was still injured from the gunshot from Miriam." She lifted her tank top slightly to reveal the faded scar. "Remaining village tribe warriors worried about my safety when I first arrived. Usually I would have two with me. But none at that moment as they were switching rounds. When I heard the warriors doing their battle cry, the jaguar didn't take the risk and let me go." Helga smirked. "Good ol' Ladrão Noturno."

"What's La-drown-o no-turn-o? " Harold asked in confusion.

"Means Night Prowler. That's what locals called him because he would prowl at night." The girl placed her shirt on and nibbled on her watermelon. "He was huge, and his eyes were so focused that you would not even know that you were dead until it was too late. The villagers feared him, but they believed that I was their Goddess sent to help them, so they set me off to find him when I turned thirteen."

"You went chasin' a big ol' cat two years ago?" Stinky stared as she nodded. "Gee willikers…"  
"What happened next?" Sid asked hurriedly. "Did you find him? Did you kill him!"  
"Come on Sid! Don't interrupt the lady while she's telling us!" Gerald fumed.

"It was more like, he found me." Helga answered, bringing everyone's attention to her. "I went out to hunt for the tribe, and caught a deer, but he smelt it and came over. When I knew he was there, I began to leave, but I was stuck." Her little pause made everyone lean forth. "There was an anaconda in front of me. Either I sacrifice my kill, or die trying to bring it back, because I was hunting alone." Half of them gasped. "As the jaguar approached, I slowly hid into the jungle, climbing the vines as I'm trying to figure out what I can do. He was pleased with the deer I left behind, and started to take it away, but the anaconda struck and grabbed his head." Now _all_ of them gasped. "I knew I wasn't to interfere with nature, but that snake was forty feet long, and it would feed the others well. Grabbing my make-shift knife that was solid rock, I stabbed its neck so hard that I pierced through the ground and backed off so I wouldn't be tangled in the struggle. But I forgot about the jaguar."

Gerald was surprisingly clinging to Arnold, Harold was trying not to cry, Curly was drooling at the story, and the others were staring intently at her… wondering what else could happen.

"When the anaconda was dead, I pried open its mouth and released the jaguar that hissed at me before taking off a few feet. It was missing a fang this time. Although I knew I had to fight the beast, but I just couldn't, instead, I took the knife back, cut one of the deer legs off, and tossed it to him. He took it and ran once looking me in the eyes; understanding that I was not his enemy." The bell rang, and since she finished her watermelon, she stretched with a sigh. "Since then, I shared my kills with him whenever he was around. Although, Miles practically had a heart attack and was angry at me about it ever since he came looking for me. The villagers don't mind since I was their _Goddess_, so Miles had to stop yelling at me all the time. I think he was mad about the fact that the jaguar liked me and almost attacked him."

Sid quickly asked before she could leave. "Where did the jaguar's fang go?"  
"Found it in the anaconda's mouth." She answered. "It proved that I faced him."  
All of the boys had only one thing in common to say after hearing that story. "Wow…"

_'My ears have been ringing for the past ten minutes—since I landed that jump…'_ Helga noticed unhappily, trying not to reach up for her head. "I'll… see you guys tomorrow…" She quickly walked away, only to hold her head and lean against a building. _'Crap… I'm having another concussion soon. I…'_ With the strength that she had, she pushed herself off the wall, only to tumble forward, heading to the floor.

A pair of arms caught her, and to her surprise, it was Phoebe.

"Are you okay? You seem disoriented, maybe?" She frowned worriedly.  
"I'm fine—" after shoving away lightly, she fell forward into the ground again.  
Phoebe did not anticipate a second fall, and she could not catch her. "Helga!"  
The girl fell to her knees, and collided into the pavement. "Hos…pit…al, call…"  
"Helga, can you hear me!" Her eyes searched and saw the boys. "Guys, help me!"

All of the boys looked at one another before running over to the two females, and Phoebe told them that Helga looked odd before collapsing. There was no time to dawdle as Harold scooped her up and looked around to see if there were any teachers in sight, but they were heading to their classes. Stinky told Harold to give her over to him since he could run to the nurse's office faster, so the large boy listened. The group of seven boys plus Phoebe, all went to the nurse's bay with the unconscious Helga, only to have the woman call for an ambulance.

When it arrived, they took Helga on the gurney, and Arnold demanded to go for multiple reasons that were all valuable. Since she had only been around for a month and in school for a week, the doctors would need all the answers that they could get. It was only after they were heading to the hospital that they noticed the gold bracelet on her wrist that contained plenty of information; allergies, previous injuries, everything medical. One of the medics that were attending to Helga mentioned in a brief compliment that was someone sad to hear.

"The girl's been injured enough times to need an emergency info bracelet. What a smart kid."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 04**

**Come Back to Me**

**Now—**

"How is she, Doctor?" Stella asked worriedly.

"Well, she had a concussion as we suspected. Has she had any head injuries recently? I understand that she had at least five cases in the past before she ran away to San Lorenzo." The doctor looked over many of the papers that had notes. "So, within the five years she's been gone, does anyone know?"

"Well," Miles hesitated nervously. "About six months ago she suffered some trauma after getting into a fight, but she wasn't in any condition to fight since it was only a week after—" he was elbowed hard.  
"We agreed to keep quiet about that. It's none of our business." His wife hissed at him, and her son looked a little confused about the secret. "She was in a in a fight, won, but collapsed… falling over…"  
"I suppose a fall could cause a bad head injury. However, it looks more serious than that." The doctor showed an x-ray of Helga's skull, pointing to a location. "This particular spot looks as if it was hit bad."  
"My wife wasn't specific." Miles hesitated, accidentally glancing at their son before looking at the doctor again. "She fell off a cliff into a ravine. It was amazing that she hit the water. We all searched for her."

Arnold stared with his mouth gaped; did his friend really fall off the edge of land—who knows how many hundreds of feet she had to fall down from before landing into a ravine? When she said that the scariest thing she encountered was a jaguar, surely she meant to hide this from her friend and giving them a little white lie. His attention turned towards the girl that was slowly started to stir awake, and she looked exhausted, as if she managed a three-minute nap. Before he could go to her side, his mother came over to talk to her in a foreign language, which Helga groggily replied in the same language.

"She says that her head was ringing for ten minutes." Miles translated for the doctor. "Something about jumping down a—" He tried to confirm what she was saying, Helga nodded. "Jumping down a tree?"

"When we were kids, she was the 'It Girl' for a while, Helga managed to get her manager to fire her." The football headed boy stated. "Today, we found her running and jumping into the tree because he was back. I think he wanted her to return, but she said something in a different language before destroying their camera." He paused to think. "When we looked up, she was gone. We thought she ran off, but she suddenly jumped out of the tree and scared us. I think that's what she's talking about."

It seemed that Helga started to understand where she was, and began to speak English. "I was heading to the nurse's office." She sat up slowly with some pain and discomfort. "I'm fine now. I can go to class."  
"Helga, you're at the hospital, school ends in five minutes." Stella stated quietly. "Your friends carried you to the nurse's office where they called for an ambulance. Arnold came with them and called us."  
"A family of worrywarts…" The girl sighed softly before closing her eyes again. "Thanks," she muttered. Her eyes began to open again slowly. "Did I have a concussion like I knew it was then, Doc?"

"Yes, and now that you're awake, your parents can sign you out—"

"I don't have parents." She interrupted without emotion. "I'll sign the paperwork myself, or else I'll leave without it all together." To prove she was serious, she sat up slowly and looked at herself to see that she still had her own clothing on. "I need to go to school and gather my things anyway. I'm very busy."

"You know, stress is not good for a young woman—"

"A-Ah, how about we just get that paperwork filled out, okay? Stella and I verbally agreed to look after her two years ago, we just never made anything official. There's no proof to say whether we are or aren't her guardians, right?" Miles smiled nervously, motioning the doctor out while following him in order to deal with the paper work so Helga could be discharged.

"Helga," Stella whispered softly after the two adult males left. "Did you have a dream about it again?" It took a moment, she nodded slowly. "Helga, I—" The girl lied down and faced the opposite direction from the two that were in the room. "I can understand what you're going through to a point, but…" With Arnold in the room, she could not continue. "How about Arnold and I go get your belongings from school, and Miles can take you home? That way you can get some rest and get some work done?

When she nodded, the two left the room.

"Are you sure it's okay to leave her?" Arnold was worried about leaving her in that room, alone.  
She smiled softly at him as they headed towards the elevator. "It's best not to crowd her too much."  
"Okay, but also, is there… something about Helga that you and Dad are trying to avoid telling me?"  
"What makes you think that?" His mother smiled softly. "Anyway, we need to gather your work too."  
Knowing he was not going to get an answer, he ignored the first half. "I'm sure the others got it all."  
"Well, we should at least go to school to explain what happened." They walked out of the hospital.

"Helga!" The two heard Miles from the third floor inside.

She better have been discharged, because she jumped out of the window and into a tree, so the two hurried to find her just in case. As they saw her touch the ground like a cat on four legs, Helga was running quickly towards the street as if she were about to kill herself. Arnold tried to cut her off before she could, but she was too fast for him to keep up with since she spent the past five years running for survival. A parked truck made it impossible for him to see what was going on as she jumped into the street where vehicles of all sorts skidded on their breaks.

"No!" It has only been a month—he only had her back for a few weeks. He ran to the scene where drivers were leaving their cars and trucks to check on her fallen form on the sidewalk. "Helga!" Arnold ran over to her, pushing his way through everyone to get to her. "Helga, are you okay? Helga! Hel—!"

"I'm just fine, Arnold." She growled sorely, slowly trying to get up.  
Relieved, but terrified, said boy yelled. "What were you doing trying to kill yourself!"  
"I wasn't trying to kill myself." As she sat up, she revealed a small boy in her arms. "I was saving him."  
"Maxwell!" A woman came over with two children holder her hands. "Maxwell! There you are!"  
"Mommy!" The boy cried, getting up and running to her. "I was looking for you!"  
"I told you to stay right where you were while I got your siblings!"

Everyone watched the touching scene for the longest time until Helga slowly stood on her own two feet, earning herself a round of clapping hands. They congratulated her on a good job as Stella ran over and embraced her while telling her how she was so scared that she had been hurt. Miles eventually came to the scene where he heard everything from his son, except he was not cheering like everyone else was.

"Helga, you could've been killed!" He yelled furiously; he and Arnold seemed to be the only ones that noticed this major factor. "What you did was reckless! What do you have to say for yourself!"  
Angry, she crossed her arms and glared. "I did what I had to do to save the boy." When she turned away, she looked over her shoulder. "And don't try to scold me, you would have done the same thing, too."  
Opening his mouth to object, Stella interrupted him. "Helga is a hero, dear. No one was hurt, so let's put this aside us." He did not seem happy. "She has a point. You and I would have done the same thing."  
"I would have done it too, most likely." Arnold defended the angry friend. "I'm a little unhappy that she placed herself in danger too, Dad, but that woman could have lost her son if Helga didn't do anything."

"That's right," his mother agreed. "When we get home, the first thing you're going to do is apologize to Helga for being overprotective. Otherwise, you and the boys are not going camping coming any time soon." Miles rolled his eye in discontent. "Helga doesn't need to stress anymore than necessary, and with you yelling at her like this, she might run away and go back to San Lorenzo. Is that what you want?"

He opened his mouth to speak, then slowly closed it. Stella was right, and he was wrong. "Hopefully she went to the boarding house." The man strolled off in search for the upset female teenager. "Women…"

* * *

"Is something wrong Arnold?" Stella looked at him curiously as they were heading home.

"I don't know…" he started quietly. "Ever since Helga came back with you and Dad, she's had a wave of enlightenment around her. She's been telling me all of these stories about San Lorenzo with a smile, so I never bothered to think that something was wrong." His eyes were staring at his feet as they were nearing home. "But after hearing about that jaguar today at school, and her falling into a ravine? I should have thought about the troubles that she had there. She never really tells me what truly worries her, what really scares her." Arnold looked up to the sky—he saw Helga on the roof watching them.

Stella could not resist smiling. "I think all that matters, is that you're at her side, Arnold."

He looked at his mother briefly before cutting through the alley and running up the fire escape so that he would not have to run through the boarding house. When he reached the top to greet her, his entire body froze at the large amount of people that were standing there with big smiles. Everyone yelled a big 'Happy Birthday' to him that he seemed completely surprised by, but something confused him.

"But… my birthday is tomorrow." He blinked.

"Guess again, Shortman." Helga smirked. "I replaced your calendar with next year's while you were in the shower last week." She crossed her arms. "If I hadn't, you would have wondered why no one said anything to you today about it. Then the surprise birthday party wouldn't have been a surprise at all!"  
The bratty female sounded fine now. "W-Well I'm _really_ surprised…" He looked around again, still taken aback by everything. "It's only been three hours after school, how did you guys manage the decorations in such short notice?" Arnold stared at the balloons and everything else. "Who in the world did all this?"  
"We all did, man." Gerald stated coolly. "You've been moping like a lost puppy. But since everything's back to normal, we thought we'd celebrate, and what better way than with your own birthday!"  
"But… we leave to go camping tomorrow in the morning, we're going to have too much energy—" He paused. "Wait, tomorrow is the eighth—it is my birthday today!" Everyone laughed at his shocked face.

"Don't worry man, all of our stuff is here! We're staying the night so we could leave in the morning!"

"Wow… this is…" Arnold looked at everyone… everyone he cared about was there. "This is great!"

After hearing his approval to the surprise party, everyone began cheering and celebrating for a job well done, all except for one. With a soft smile, Helga walked over to the fire escape to go to her room for some sleep, but the others saw how she was trying to run away from the party. There was no way for her to be able to leave the party since everyone was going to make sure that she would stick around.

She gave up, shrugging. "Shouldn't we be entertaining Arnold?"

* * *

Five hours had passed, and it was dark out.

All of the girls left whereas the boys and some of their fathers stayed behind because they were going to leave before sunrise in the morning. The boys were in Arnold's room fooling around while their fathers were downstairs having a few drinks for casual fun while they could. Gerald and Arnold were challenging each other on handheld games while the others watched and cheered for the birthday boy who had just suddenly stopped playing. Something had caught his attention, so he told everyone to be quiet and not to make a peep so he could figure out the sound he was hearing.

"Gosh you guys," Eugene stared up at the window ceiling above their heads. "It's coming from outside."  
Gerald scowled at him. "It's dark out Eugene, who in the world would be out there at this time of night?"  
"Helga's going to get sick if she stays out there too long. Not that it's nothing new." Arnold sighed softly.  
"Ya mean to tell us that Helga stays outside like a dog?" Stinky frowned in disapproval of such a thing.  
"No, no, it's not like that." He scratched the back of his head. "She prefers to sleep outside mostly."  
"Boy howdy, can you imagine how awesome it would be if Helga went camping with us?" Sid grinned.  
"Yeah right Sid, she's a girl!" Harold laughed. "She can't do anything but scream and whine like a—"

"Like a what, Harold?" Helga asked seriously from the open window. The boys jumped from the bed and crashed onto the floor. "Who was the one who saved you from drowning all those years ago, huh?"  
"U-Uh… I… I don't know what you're talking about…" he lied so he would not look like a pansy, and she leaped into the room silently. Standing in front of him with a sharp glare. "Y-You did! Wah! I'm sorry!"  
"Helga, what was that noise outside?" Arnold asked curiously, and she rose up a clay flute that she had made in San Lorenzo. "Wow… did you make that?" She nodded, handing it to him to look at closely.  
"When I wasn't training, I learned to play instruments and other tribe activities." It did not seem too interesting to her. "Oh, yeah, that's right. I couldn't find the right time to give it to you. Here, Arnold…"

After passing the instrument to the others to see, he watched her remove one of the two necklaces that it looked like she was wearing. When she brought it out, it was a large fang, and Sid immediately claimed how it was the fang that belonged to the jaguar she told them about. He was right. She handed the necklace over to Arnold as his birthday present, and he was instantly fascinated from how long it was. However, it made him think of how much of this fang had once pierced into Helga shoulder all those years back, but he placed it around his neck with a smile.

"Thanks Helga."

"Yeah," she received her flute from Stinky. "Have fun you guys." Helga turned to leave—  
"Wait!" All the boys cried out, causing her to jump in surprise at their sudden yell at her.  
"W-What?" Her attention went to each individual, but no one answered her. "Goodnight—"  
"Go camping with us!" They all called out, and she blinked at them as if they were all crazy idiots.  
"No." Helga answered flatly. "Don't you remember, I'm a _girl_. You guys don't like _girls_ on boy trips."  
They cringed when she threw this in their faces, but Arnold recovered first. "But I'll feel bad if you stay."  
"Least I wouldn't have to come in here to tell you a bedtime story." Her arms crossed; challenging them.  
"Mind tellin' us one tonight? Something that ain't as scary as you bein' attacked?" Stinky pondered.  
"If I told you a story, you guys would stay awake even longer. You all need your sleep tonight."  
"That's true…" Eugene frowned in disappointment. "Can you play a lullaby with that flute?"  
"Yeah!" The boys all cheered; they were enjoying the 'new' things Helga had and all.  
Helga sighed weakly with a smile. "Yes, but if I play a lullaby, I might fall asleep."  
"That's okay." Arnold smiled in appreciation. "Can you play a lullaby for us?"

They all looked at her in high hopes, and she gave up. "You know the drill."

She climbed up the steps and lied on her hammock that was kept in the room for her for whenever she decided to come in. Her main hammock was in her room, but the one in Arnold's room was for when she told him stories, when she would hang out with him, or even just to sun bathe. With her lips to the flute, she began to play a gentle melody for the group to listen to while the birthday boy got up and dressed for bed. The other boys thought that he was crazy for changing in the room while there was a girl around, but they noticed that Helga did not once look. Arnold told them that it is okay for them to change with her in their presence; mainly because her eyes were closed and she was focused on the flute. He watched how shy they were about it by dropping their pants to put on pajama bottoms first, then switched their shirts.

When she stopped playing, they all looked at her curiously.

Arnold looked up at her. "Does your head hurt still?"  
"No, just… remembering." She mumbled hesitantly.  
The country boy stared. "What ya tryin to remember?"

Helga laughed. "The Green-Eyes thought, 'oh, she's wounded, she's useless.' So they wanted me to prove myself." She looked at her flute. "They grabbed me and threw me into a river filled with piranha."  
"…willikers…" Stinky stared at her with mouth open; trying to imagine how scary that must have been. "Did them piranhas take a bite outta ya any?" A few other boys nodded; wanting the answer to this.  
She began to laugh more. "No, but I grabbed one by the tail, swam out of the river, threw it in a man's face, and it bit his nose. Some warrior, he ran off screaming like a girl!" All of the boys laughed at this.  
"Piranhas are the fish that will eat you alive, right?" Harold hugged his stuffed animal tightly. "I hope we don't see any on our camping trip you guys, I don't wanna be eaten!" The others rolled their eyes now.

"Oh no, it's not the piranhas you have to worry about if you don't splash or aren't bleeding." Helga spoke casually, fiddling with her flute. "It's those stupid caiman and crocodiles you have to look out for." They all looked at her, silence filling the room. "There's a saying in that jungle. If it runs away, it's a caiman." She looked to the boys since they were dressed. "If it eats you, then it's a crocodile."

"I-I don't like that saying." Sid stuttered. "There's none around h-here, right?"

"Around here? Nah." The boys sighed in relief. "Around here, you only have to watch out for bears, wolves, and mountain lions." Helga looked at Arnold's clock to see that it was getting late. "Alright, all of you get to bed, I'll play one song, and that's it." Everyone obeyed, and she played the flute for them.

One by one, they all passed out, and she headed out of the room.

"Helga." Arnold whispered quietly as was passing the bed.  
She looked at him. "O-Oh, I thought you were asleep already."  
His head shook, and he sat up. "Can I tell you my birthday wish?"  
"I thought it was bad luck to tell someone what your wish was."  
"Well, I don't believe in superstitions. It should be okay, I think."  
Her arms crossed. "I'll bite." She replied. "What's your wish?"

Nervously, he wrapped his arms around his knees, twiddling his thumbs. "…for you to go on the trip."

"Arnold, I already told you—" she bit her tongue to stay quiet, but started over. "It's not safe for me to go camping. I just came from the jungle and into the city, and now you're asking me to practically return to that?" Arnold looked down in guilt for not thinking this. "What if Gerald taps my shoulder, right?" He nodded; she would attack and most likely nearly kill him. "Get some sleep." She turned, and left silently.

Helga walked out of the room, down the stairs, and went to the room where all of the men were laughing up a storm. She leaned against the doorframe of the hall, just casually waiting for them to notice that she was in their presence so that she could talk to them. They noticed her only a few seconds after she appeared, and they all set their drinks down due to the serious look on her face. Her mind gave a mental bet that they were worried that she was going to tell them that they could not go camping or that the boys were being destructive. The teen crossed her arms once more as she looked to Miles since she knew him the best out of the group of adult males.

"The boys went to sleep, I played the flute since they were rambunctious and asking for stories."  
She watched the men all sigh in relief as Miles started talking. "Thanks Helga, I really appreciate that."  
"There's… one more thing." They looked at her worriedly. "And this involves everyone's opinion, too."

That said, the adults listened intently.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 05**

**Come Back to Me**

**Now—**

Everyone in the two vans were singing cheerfully on their way up the mountains; the boys were all in one van with Gerald's father, Martin, driving with Eugene's father, Nate, in the passenger seat. In the other van, Miles was driving with the rest of the group, this way they managed to take all of their camping materials in the van with less people in it. It was previously decided that they were going to go somewhere else to go camping in high hopes of not enduring the disaster from last time. Much to all the boys disappointment, Helga was not in the van with them—she was nowhere in sight when they all left.

"Was kinda hopin' she'd be on the trip and teach us some stuff." Stinky muttered as he watched the mountains outside of the van. "I reckon she wouldn't wanna go to some all-guys trip anyway…"  
"Yeah, you guys were a bunch of jerks to her in the past!" Curly sneered as he recalled the anniversary of the Ghost Bride. "At least I didn't say anything that was sexist to her! My beloved is the best there is!"  
Gerald turned around to look at him. "I thought Rhonda was your beloved—all of a sudden Helga's back and cooler than ever, she's suddenly your beloved?" The psychopath nodded vigorously. "Whatever."  
"Don't be jealous Gerald, just because you already have a girlfriend." Sid snickered. "But this trip is about us guys and camping! Not romance! We can talk about that stuff when we get back home!"  
"Gosh, I don't even think we should be talking about Helga in that way you guys." The teens looked at Eugene as if he were crazy. "She lives with Arnold now, doesn't that technically make them siblings?"  
"Not a chance Eugene! Helga's more fun and not afraid to have some excitement!" They looked at Harold in suspicion. "Not like that! I mean that she's not afraid to get into trouble! Arnold's just a wuss!"

"Thanks, Harold." Arnold slightly scowled. "Anyway, I don't know. She's still just a friend in my opinion."

The boys all rolled their eyes at him for being a simpleton, but that was to be expected from the boy that was always optimistic. Lucky for them that they were pulling in to the parking lot so they all jump out and went to the bathroom before their bladders would explode. The adults grinned at one another before the rest of their group arrived and parked next to the van, and they waved happily at them. As everyone was returning from potty break, they were listening to the adult talking casually about the trip.

"So, did you guys check for the best camp grounds?" Miles asked curiously; experienced sounding even.  
The other parents looked at him, shrugging. "Why the heck would we check!" Phil laughed at thought.  
"You mean you…" He slapped his head. "Never mind, Dad." His head turned. "Hey Helga, you think—"

"I'm on it." Said girl appeared around the van before running through the woods, jumping over a tall brush, grabbing a tree branch to swing herself up on it to climb the giant tree. "I see a decent patch!" She called down to everyone below. "Follow the edge of the river!" Helga then quickly climbed down.

"Great work, thanks Helga." He looked to everyone. "Everyone, get your things so we can head out!"

Easier said than done; they were all still staring at Helga that just climbed a tree like a monkey, located a camping spot, and come back down just as fast. The five adults that excluded Miles, were also staring at her in surprise—all of them began assuming that this might make things better this time around. Helga turned to look at the staring group confusedly before turning to Miles, speaking in the foreign language to ask what was wrong with them. He shrugged in return when he was also a bit confused at everyone's reaction to something that he was used to.

"I'll head down first to make sure the path is alright." Helga grabbed her small backpack to slip on her back before attempting to grab some things that were for the camp, but Miles stopped her. "W—Hey!"  
"All you have to do is take your things, we'll handle the rest." He waved a hand at her. "The less things to carry means the faster you can find the spot, right? It's as simple as that, really." However, he twitched.  
She glared at him for purposely doing this. "I know my limit. At _least_ give me three lanterns before I start getting angry." Her arm outstretched, demanded for something to take with her. "I'm won't ask again."  
Miles sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay, you can take… uh… oh—ow!" She grabbed his hand and pinned it up behind him to force him out of the way. "Okay! Okay! You win! Take what you want then! I'm sorry!"  
"Thank you." With that, she grabbed two large sacks that held tarps in them, and then grabbed two lanterns in each hand. "I'm not a child, and I'm not your daughter. Please keep that in mind, Miles."

Gerald pointed at the scene. "Okay… did she just take down your dad?"  
"Yeah… Helga was going easy on him right now." Arnold stated nervously.  
Miles got up sorely after she was gone. "Listen, _no one_ should upset her, okay?"  
"You say that, but you're the one that got her riled up." Phil snickered at him for it.

"Anyway, we should grab our things and catch up to her." He unloaded the van. "Helga will wait until she hears our voices near the sight, then most likely check the surroundings like always." They stared at him confusedly. "Come on you guys, do you want to get Helga angry after you all wanted her to come?"

The teens ran over and gathered their backpacks and many other camping materials before lining up and ready to go. All of the adults grabbed their own things and managed to haul the rest of their things for the camping trip as Eugene tripped over the ice chest. Everything was taken out, so they locked down the vans before walking down the trail that Helga had taken earlier. Miles made sure to bring a walking staff for safety measures from experience, and they were greeted with a split in the road.

"You mean she didn't leave us a trail!" Sid panicked in horror. "What are we going to do without her!"  
"She's an elite warrior. Leaving tracks would be unlike her." Miles laughed as he pulled out a mini flute.  
"What is that—" Arnold watched him as he made a bird-like call, and an owl-like one returned the call.  
"Left." He put the flute away and began to take the path. "Reminds me of a time I followed her once."  
"This isn't going to be a scary story is it?" Harold asked worriedly; sensing the unhappy story coming.

"After she saved me and Stella, we returned to the village of the Green-Eyes with everyone else once La Sombra was taken care by a jaguar." He paused a moment as they found an eye drawn into the ground. They must have contacted her when she was this far and started to leave tracks. "We didn't know who she was until we arrived, the remaining warriors said she was friends with Arnold, so that was good enough for us to trust her." Miles grumbled lightly though. "She was their finest warrior who went off to hunt for the celebration, but I didn't get a chance to thank her, so I followed her into the jungle." His eyes caught another sign and followed it. "When I found her, she was with that same jaguar that I saw before. Sitting next to it as if it were some pet while she was removing the tusks from the dead boar."

Remembering it like it was yesterday, he shivered. "That jaguar probably would've killed me if Helga hadn't stopped it. When we got back, I learned that the two would hunt together." Martin complained; calling this a little too farfetched. "I thought so too, until we heard her call for back up." Everyone behind him had stopped dead in their tacks. "When the Chief said something was wrong, he sent half of the warriors to search for her. Warriors said that they found two male jaguars fighting while Helga was face down on the ground with a bloody back." He turned to look at them. "She told us that she had made her kill, but knew something was wrong when Ladrão Noturno wasn't around. When she saw the jaguar, she thought it was him, but it acted different. Helga fought off the big cat while she could, and Ladrão Noturno came to the scene, killing the other that intruded on his land." Miles took a few more steps before seeing the spot she talked about. "For it, the Green-Eyes gave Ladrão Noturno respect—"

"Stay back!" They heard Helga yelled.

Miles motioned everyone to freeze and get down slowly while he tried to see what was going on that she would warn them to back off. They all saw her with jagged looking knife that was handmade, but they all jumped when hearing the roar of a cougar that charged after her. As it ran towards her, she realized that she could not draw the angry feline towards the rest of her group that was there. It leapt over the tarp sack and she jumped aside during its midflight—stabbing it through the ribcage to stun it. Now she had no weapon to weapon to use, so she climbed up the closest tree while she had to think things through quickly while the cougar began climbing after her.

Helga saw something in the corner of her eye; Miles was waving a walking staff that gave her an idea.

She did not care about the fourteen males that were watching her if she were to get rid of this cranky cougar. Their situation was serious, so she nodded to Miles that she would take his offer and pulled her shirt off before jumping. Angling herself right, she placed it on the feline's head to buy her some time as she yelled for the staff that he skidded on the ground to her. The cougar fell off the tree and landed poorly for being temporarily blinded with the shirt on its head that it finally removed. By the time it had the chance to look up, she whacked it over the head with the staff, causing it to flee in utter defeat.

Dropping the staff, she grabbed her shirt, and placed it on as the others came to her side.

"I went to the get a drink of water, and I heard it coming from behind. It caught my leg when I tried to dodge." Helga observed her pants. "Feels like I got caught, so I'll check it after I go get my knife back."  
"Oh no you don't, you did enough Helga." Miles kept her to stay put. "Think of the tribe, you watch over everyone, and you did just that. Now you stay here and watch over _this_ tribe while I retrieve the knife."  
She wanted to argue, but her thigh said otherwise. "I understand." Her attention went to everyone. "Sorry if I worried anyone. Everything's fine now." Though she said this, she limped as she walked off.

With Miles out of the picture to take care of things, the others had to think of what they should do. Martin was the first adult to pitch his idea. "Well, we should start making camp before it gets late."  
"Depending on who makes camp, perhaps it would be better if there are some who go fishing too," Helga stated, slowly—painfully leaning against a tree. "Though we'll be having mountain lion tonight."  
Eugene mildly twitched at this. "M-Mountain lion meat? I-Is that even edible?" She nodded quietly. "I guess that's better than having beans all night like the last time we had a fishing trip. Right guys?"

"Now hold on a minute," Gerald's head shook. "Why are you saying that we're having mountain lion?"

"Because it was me or that cat, so I stabbed it in the lungs but it still went after me." Helga tried not to bite his head off. "You kill it, you eat it. If you don't want to eat it, then you can go fish." She winced as she removed her hand from her side; her hand covered in blood. "Oh, I thought it got me. Guess I was right." As she grazed her side, she felt something foreign, and removed it to see it. "Oh, a claw, huh?"

The adults began to worry about her, but Arnold told them to stop as quickly as he could, and everyone looked at him as if he was crazy. He told them that all she needed was a first aid kit and her bag of clothes most likely since she had been injured before. Helga did just that by grabbing her bag while Sid offered her the first aid kit—but Curly offered to help her, earning glares from everyone. Knowing about his frantic obsession recently, she asked Brainy to come with her, and for the others to whistle if they needed anything. When she was out of sight, all of them turned to Arnold in hopes of receiving a very good reason why he stopped them from helping her.

"She's been in the city barely for a month, she's been in the jungle for five _years_." Arnold started with this bit of information as a reminder. "Back at the house, I got a little overexcited and asked her a lot of questions—my mom said that I was crowding her, and Helga nearly attacked me out of fear because she didn't want to hurt me." He looked to the adults firmly. "We're teenagers, if we need help, we tell you."

"Arnold, I know you mean well, but she was attacked by a puma." Nate frowned; trying to have him understand things. "She could be seriously infected from that claw that I'm bet was deep in her leg."  
"No offense Mr. Horowitz, but I know Helga better than you—" He quickly motioned to the other teens. "We _all_ know Helga better than you." His attention went to the adults again. "There's something else."  
All of the adults looked at one another, and Phil became the spokesman of the adults. "What do you mean that there's something else, Shortman?" Somehow, it made all of them a little worried about this.  
"If we crowd her with concern or anger, she'll lash out. It makes her stressed, and ultimately dangerous. However, if we let her come to us, then Helga can adapt to us a lot easier. Just… let me handle Helga."

"You, handle me?" Said girl asked a little coldly, causing the group to jump. "It was a nice speech."  
Arnold debated on what to say, but chose to ignore her remark. "Is the wound infected or anything?"  
"No, I cleaned it, disinfected it, bandaged it, changed into some shorts, and had Brainy tie a bandana to pressure it so I can walk better." She waved a hand at them. "Stop worrying about me, this is normal."  
The teens looked at one another, all of them nodded as they thought of the same thing. Sid was the first to speak. "Well, we all heard Helga! Stinky and I are going to put up the boys tent!" He ran off happily.  
"H-Hey—wait for me!" The lanky country boy chased after him in order to help put up the tents.  
"Brainy and I can go look for wood and some sticks!" Eugene cheered as he ran passed her happily—only to trip over his feet, and he expected to fall on his face, but Helga caught him by his shorts. "T-Thanks…"

"You and Brainy should sort through the things for camp. Arnold and Gerald and search for the sticks." As she said this, she looked to the two latter that she mentioned. "Can you find some long strong ones? If not, break only five branches." The two nodded and started to run. "Hey!" They skidded to a stop to look at her, and she sighed in relief. "Stay away from that area. There's a burrow over there, and until we know what's in there, we shouldn't disturb that side." She was not going to tell them that she had a feeling that there was a scorpion or two in there though. "Oh… and take this," she tossed a whistle to Gerald; a simple coach's whistle, nothing fancy. "You blow on it three times, and we search for you."

The dark skinned boy looked at her curiously. "Wow, you really know your stuff Helga."  
"Of course I do, I had to train warriors for two years." She motioned them to leave. "Watch your step."  
As Gerald looked at Arnold, the latter spoke with somewhat of a grin. "Anything else you want to say?"  
Her arms crossed. "Talk loudly, it'll scare the predators away, _Arnold_." With that, she set her bag down.  
Their heads dipped at the failure to hear a nickname. "Okay… we'll be back in twenty!"

"More like an hour."

* * *

Although the adults were a little annoyed that they found themselves under the command of a fifteen years-old girl, their sons were finally having fun. Despite how the teenagers did not like putting up the tents or setting up the campsite, they were very eagered to do everything that she asked. Especially Curly who managed to catch a bucket full of worms where as Harold ate every other one he found in the ground. With the campsite finished with plenty of daylight left, all of the boys went fishing with the adults, except for Curly whom was at Helga's side.

Helga was bored from watching them though, so she decided to join them. "Is it alright if I fish, too?"  
The boys all stared at her—they wanted to say yes, but Harold idiotically spoke first. "No! Boys only!"  
"Oh come on Harold, she can fish with us!" Sid wanted to throw something at him for being stupid.  
"Go ahead Helga, we brought a fishing pole for you just in case." Ray offered, pointing at the red one.  
She changed her mind instantly. "No… never mind, thank you." Quietly, she grabbed the staff to leave.

"Hey, Helga?" Arnold called out, and she looked at him. "My dad's been gone for a while…"

Although the adults were unhappy that he did not come to them with his concern, she pulled out her clay flute and made a high pitch bird call. It was silent at first, worrying the others, and she changed the call to a deeper tone, which was returned with an equal low pitch. They did not know what it meant, but when she placed the flute away, they waited to hear what was holding Miles back.

"He was most likely giving it a prayer, that's what we do after a kill." Helga answered. "To make sure we stay safe, he most likely took the mountain lion a little farther in order to dress it." She patted his shoulder. "He'll be back with the meat before dark, he's almost done." With that, she walked away with a casual feminine stride. "I'll only be a few feet away doing whatever girls do during camping trips, Gerald has the whistle if there's an emergency."

"So long, _Suckers_!" Curly grinned as he left with her.  
Harold's father, Jerry, looked at everyone. "Is he a psychopath?"  
"Pretty much." The teens answered flatly to the question.

About ten minutes later, Miles returned with plentiful slabs of meat, and setting them in an ice chest before coming over to see the disaster. Harold was soaking wet and on shore as he moaned and groaned from an upset stomach that was probably from eating worms. Sid was furious because a fish attacked him like last time—only this time he lost his hat to the river in the process. He was not the only one that lost his hat; when he ran around frantically, he knocked over all the other teens, causing both Arnold and Harold to lose their hats earlier. As much as they wanted to go get them, the currents were too fast, which meant there would be no way to catch them.

What was worse, they fished for two hours, and Harold practically scared Helga off ten minutes ago.

"Fishing, huh?" Miles grabbed a fishing pole, hooked a worm on. "I haven't done this in years—got one!"

"It's probably a boot," Arnold sighed.  
"Or an empty can of beans." Sid added.  
Eugene looked. "I still have my pants!"  
Everyone looked at him with irritation.

"No… it's fighting me for sure! I bet it's big!" He tried to reel it in. "Oh yeah… it's huge! It's—" A frog.

"Oh, Miles, you're back already?" Helga's voice rang through their ears. When they looked, their mouths all dropped at the sight. "I knew we were having cougar for dinner, but… we caught some fish just in case someone didn't want to try the meat." The staff that was held over her shoulder, held ten large fishes where Curly held one in his hand. "Oh, Sid, this is your hat right?" It was on top of her head.

"My hat!" Said boy threw the fishing pole on land before running over to the female and embracing her. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you so much! Thank you!" He was… very happy.  
"Yeah, yeah, don't mention it." She lowered her head and he took it from her carefully. "Anyway, can I borrow the bucket that you're sitting on Eugene? So I can put the fish in there?" The clumsy one stood.  
"Helga, you saved us! Now I have a choice as to what I want to eat!" Harold got up from the ground, running to her as she placed the fish in the bucket. He groveled at her feet. "Thank you! Thank you H—"  
"Who said any of you get to eat the fish that I caught?" Helga scowled lightly at him while Curly placed his little fish in the bucket. "You said your group was _boys_ only, remember?" She grabbed the bucket.  
"I am so sorry Helga! I didn't mean it! I was being stupid!" She left his grasp and something soaking wet was plopped on his head, and he grabbed it. "My hat!" Harold froze and continued whining. "Helga!"

"You just _had_ to open your mouth earlier, didn't you." Gerald's head shook unhappily.  
Miles looked around after releasing the frog. "What happened while I was gone?"  
"Helga asked to fish with us, but _Harold_ said it was for boys only!" Sid scowled.

Moments later, they saw Helga make a fire and placed the fish over it to cook before going next to the boys to wash the meat from the cougar. Curly helped her with everything that she did, and somehow, the teenage boys found themselves helping her out as well. Four of the parents were slightly upset that a girl was ruining with father-son bonding, but Miles contently put the fishing poles away.

"Let them do what they want." Phil told the parents. "They haven't seen her in five long years. Last they ever heard of her was that she was shot by her mother, who killed her entire family." He reminded.

The others nodded and agreed with him, so they calmly bore with it.

Back with the teenagers, Helga checked the fish, and they were ready. "If you don't want to wait for the steak, you guys can eat the fish." She stated quietly, shifting the cooked fish on a large plate on the ice chest. All of the boys looked at her confusedly. "What are you guys looking at?" She nearly glared.

"Well, earlier you said they were all yours." Arnold explained. "By the way, did you see my—"  
"I was only joking," she answered softly. "I'm not in San Lorenzo anymore, but, I still have a tribe here."  
"Amen to that!" Gerald got up and snag a fish before Harold could steal all of them. "This smells good!"  
"Thank you Helga!" Harold charged towards the fish. "I love you forever and ever for this! I promise!"  
As everyone grabbed a fish, Arnold looked at Helga, trying to ask her again. "Helga, did you… did—"  
His hat was placed in its rightful spot. "You need to stop losing your hat. I won't always be around."

He smiled at the feeling of his hat back on his head, but frowned when recalling what she said to him.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait. Went back to California in April, earned some bad chest pains coming home.

Mind you, I have 1000+ fanfics in WIP, 20 are Hey Arnold.

* * *

**Chapter 06**

**Come Back to Me**

**Now—**

Arnold stirred awake to a soft patting sound hitting the dirt outside the tent that he knew to be the wide-awake Helga. Honestly, why was that girl so crazy to wake up before the crack of dawn anyway, most normal people did not do that. He peeked outside to see that it was pitch black outside—it was nowhere _close _to sunrise, what did she think she was doing! Taking a quick check on his friends, they were all sound asleep, so he came outside to follow her as quietly as possible.

It turned out that she had a backpack on. _'Was this what she meant? She's… leaving?'_ He continued to follow her after she entered the woods, and she dropped down in front of him. She covered his mouth and pinned him back to a tree. _'Helga wants me to be quiet.'_ His head nodded slowly. "Helga…"

"You should go back to camp, and get some sleep." The girl removed her hands from his mouth.  
"I'm not going to leave, and you're not leaving us." He stared at her, watching her become surprised.  
At the most, she was a little stunned by this. "What are you talking about Arnold? I want to go—"  
"But you don't have to go. You just came back to us." His hands grabbed hers. "I won't let you."  
Helga sighed. "I know that. My leg is badly wounded, that's why I'm going to the hot spring nearby."

The crimson color rose to his cheeks as he felt completely embarrassed. "…oh."

She looked at him, trying to debate. "Your dad will probably have a fit if I went by myself to take a bath with my bad leg." Her attention went elsewhere when he looked at her. "There's a large rock in the hot spring that divides two pools. If you want to go, I don't mind." His entire face turned red. "But if you're going to be a boy about it, then I'm fine going on my own." The girl began to limp away.

"Wait!" He whispered loudly. "I'll go with you, just let me get some clothes and a towel."

The boy ran back to the campsite silently, there was nothing that was going to stop him from hurrying to her side, except tripping over a root. Helga caught him before he could face plant into the ground so that he would not wake up everyone else that was trying to sleep. Arnold quietly thanked her, but she merely walked off while using a flashlight to guide them to the location that took ten minutes to arrive.

With the full moon above them, there was plenty of moonlight to take a bath with since there were no clouds in the sky right now. Helga gave a growling hiss of pain from something that quickly drew Arnold's attention to her in case she was in trouble or hurt. She had the flashlight in her mouth with her shirt up slightly, trying to untie the bandage in order to remove her shorts… but was failing.

"Here—I'll take the flashlight." He held the front of it gently until she removed it from her mouth.  
"Thanks," the girl grumbled. "I'm not used to shirts, they drive me crazy." She brought the bottom hem of her shirt in her mouth so she could see what she was doing with the bandage. "Finally." She growled.  
His eyes trailed to her stomach with the light… looking at the gunshot wound. _'Wonder if it hurts still.'_  
"I can't see if you're going to look over my body, Arnold." As soon as she said this, the light returned.

_'I got caught,'_ he blushed. "H-Here… sit down and hold the light, I'll untie it for you."  
Her head shook. "It would hurt too much to get up again. I'll just cut through it—"  
"You could use the bandage later, just hold the light and keep your shirt up!"  
This made Helga laugh."Would it be easier for you if I just took it off entirely?"  
_'Probably.'_ His face became even redder. "I was just… distracted, that's all."  
"I could tell." She pointed the light to the bandage for him. "You're a—"

"I was looking at the scar." Arnold did not want to be called a pervert right now. Not when he was knelt down in front of her to untie the wrapping. "You were so scared that day, but then you got up and ran."

"Arnold, I don't want to talk about it." Though she said this, she smiled weakly. "It's funny though—no, it's more ironic than funny." Once he untied the bandage, he stood up and looked at her. "Bob was a jerk who dared to call you an orphan." She tossed him the flashlight, turned around, and pulled off her shirt. "Who would have guessed that months later—years later…" Helga removed her sports bra. "You're the one with the family, and now I'm the orphan." She crossed her arms over her breasts, turning to him curiously. "What is it Arnold, are you going to join me on this side? You don't seem to be the…" for a split moment, she thought about it. "Actually, I guess you _do_ have a bad side. But you're too innocent."

"I-I—" he swallowed hard, his eyes could see the curves of her body so well—even without the flashlight. "N-No, no! I can't do this, I have a girlfriend!" Arnold shut his eyes and shook his head. A second later, he looked up, only to see that she was already in the water. "H-Helga! Couldn't you have at least waited until I was on the other side or something. I'm a boy, and you're a girl! It's inappropriate—!"

"Stop it!" She snapped, startling him. "…I'm sorry, okay?" Helga sat a few feet away, sitting in the water. "I'm exhausted, I'm hurt, and I'm sick of Hilwood." Her attention went up to the stars, the moon… the sky. "I never wanted to come back here in the first place. San Lorenzo's my home." The girl whispered.

Although he was embarrassed about her indecency, Arnold figured… why the Hell not, if she did not care, why should he? Taking in a deep breath, he got out of his pajamas and everything else, and walked into the spring after turning off the flashlight. Without the manmade light, he was able to actually see the pain and suffering on Helga's face after confessing that she did not want to return.

"If you didn't want to come back… why did you?"

Helga slowly looked at him, sighing. "I was going to finish off Miriam. I didn't know she killed herself."  
"Y-You came back to kill her?" He stood up in the spring, not realized that he was exposing his body.  
"Wouldn't you want revenge?" Her eyes stayed focused on his face. "Nothing else brought me back."  
"But… your friends… they must have meant something to you in the very least, right?" He swallowed.

Her knees surfaced over the water, and she wrapped her arms around them. "Your parents were not going to leave without forcing me to come with them. Since I was ready to kill Miriam, I came back." It became quiet for a bit. "Phoebe's happy with Gerald, that's more than I can ask for her, and you seem happy with Lila." She leaned her head against arms. "There are people in San Lorenzo that need me." Slightly turning her head, she looked at him. "And you questioned me about respecting my body?"

"Wha—gah!" His panic caused him to slip and fall into the water. Luckily, she pulled him to safety. "T—" he coughed badly at the taste. "Thanks Helga." But now they were a mere foot apart from each other.  
"Don't worry about it, I have a faster reflex when it comes to…" her voice died down. "Never mind, the point is—" she paused, thought about it, and gave up when dipping her head. "You're welcome…"  
Hearing her sound so stressed and heartbroken, he really felt bad. "What is it that you don't want to tell me?" Arnold watched her tense. "It's me Helga, you always have my back. You know I have yours."  
Her head shook softly since he was such a clueless person. "I'm not the girl you knew, Arnold. In fact, I should purposely make you hate me, just to make it easier for me to go back to Central America."  
"Give me a break Helga, that's in the past. There's _no_ way I could hate you!" She offered him a very questionable gaze. "A-And I don't want you to even try! Because it is not going to work! Not ever."  
"Of course, because you're the two-timer." She smirked. As he was about to correct her, she quickly interrupted him. "I'm not talking about me and Lila. I'm talking about me and that Ruth McDougal."

"Ruth Mc… wait—what? What are you talking about, I never even—" Arnold watched her shift her hair to cover half of her face. "You—you're—" he scooted away to look at her face. "You were that girl?" She made no indication of responding. "W-Wha—Why…" He started over. "Why didn't you tell me! Wait…" It started to come back to him, when she confessed that he liked her. "You mean, that was really _you_?"

It seemed that he connected the dots. "Back when I was some crazy little girl." She answered as she got her hair wet and came out of the spring. "When I was in San Lorenzo, I finally realized that we'd never be together, so I simply cut you off." After drying her hair, she dressed. "You weren't worth the pain."  
"Wait! This isn't making any sense! If you actually liked me, why didn't you ever—" his eye widened in horror when memories brought up everything when they were saving the city. "Oh God," he came out of the water and held her arms. "Helga, I am _so_ sorry. I didn't… I mean—I don't know what to say!"  
"There's nothing to say. You're with Lila, and I'm not interested. Besides, all the guys back at camp had already confessed to me—except Gerald, thankfully." It was a shame that he did not seem mad. Just hurt that he hurt her. "Anyway, thinking of the past, I feel nothing. Because my life is in San Lorenzo…"  
"That's not possible. You can't shut off your emotions!" He tried to think things through, he needed to understand everything quickly before he went off the deep end and end up being like Curly. "I… need to… really… really sit down…" When he did just that, he rubbed his forehead to take in a deep breath.  
"No, you _really_ need to get dressed." When she heard him gasp, her lips curved into a smile, especially as he hurried to place his clothes on. "About my emotions, they're not shut off." She heard him stop moving. "I just have something that's more important to me than some boy that I used to like."

Arnold tried to think about it, only to button up his pants. "Anyway, you telling me about this, doesn't make me hate you. In fact, it makes me admire you all the more." He placed his socks and shoes on. "I don't think I would have been able to be as daring as you were. I can't imagine you being so driven."

"Now that you know—acknowledged, rather, how I felt five years ago," Helga tied the bandaged around her leg. "Once this trip is over, I'll be able to return to San Lorenzo where I'm needed." She walked off—  
"You're needed here…" There was a long silence as Helga stopped in place. "I always worried about you after you were shot. When I heard what happened to your family, I was sick to my stomach in fear."  
"What does that have anything to do with this? I was terrified Miriam was going to chase me to finish what she started." She placed a hand where she was once shot. "The Green-Eyes cared for my wound."  
He tried to think carefully for the right words to say. "I'm glad that you're okay—I'm even happier that you came back home to us."Arnold wanted to hug her, but worried if doing so would make things worse.  
"I'll be happier when I go back to the tribe, Arnold." Her form turned so she could look at him. "Do I look like some city girl? Do I act like one? I sure don't feel like it." She frowned at him. "I don't belong here—"

This struck a nerve, and he grabbed her by the arms, "yes you do! Don't ever say otherwise! Phoebe and I were always praying that there would be a day where you came back to us!" He lightly shook her. "You have to stay! I don't want to lose you again to uncertainty! If you won't stay for me, then stay for her!"

She stared at the boy that was jerking her around; she could not believe that he was being such a crybaby about her wanting to leave. It was not going to affect her because she was immune to the once strong desire to please him, and she locked it away on the first day she returned. The boy could see it in her eyes that she did not care how upset he was about her thoughts of returning to the foreign lands.

Arnold fell to his knees, hands on her arms slid down to her hands, and his head rested against her stomach softly. "I know that I'm in a relationship with Lila, but I really want you to be here in my life. I want you to be a bully to me and call me 'Football Head' again." His hands released hers in order to wrap around her. "Give everyone another chance. You saw the guys—they're happy to see you back."

"You don't understand," her hands removed his arms. "There's something more precious to me."

He tried to think about it. "Is it that guy Rio?" There, a reaction. She gasped sharply and even took a step back. "I remember that you said something about him that first night, but in your sleep, you always—"  
"Don't you dare say his name!" Helga yelled at him. "You know nothing about me or Rio! Shut up!"  
Her outburst made him fall over in surprise, but immediately saw the tears in her eyes. "H-Helga, I didn't mean to make you upset, I—" she grabbed her bag and ran through the woods. "Helga, I'm sorry!"

* * *

She had not talked all day after running to the campsite, crying loudly enough to wake everyone up at the brink of sunrise. Everyone poked their heads out of the tents to see what the commotion was about, and they saw Helga climb the tree as Arnold ran onto the campsite. Miles tried to talk to her in both English and native talk of the Green-Eyes, but she was not responding to anything. When his son said that he said someone's name that she did not want him to say, it began to make a little more sense. It was determined that this was the problem as Miles talked in the foreign language, and Arnold heard him say "Rio" in the mist of things, causing Helga to shift unhappily.

"Dad," Arnold whispered. "Who's R—"

"Someone very important to Helga." His father interrupted him quickly to avoid any more problems. "It is someone so important to her and the tribe, that, it was forbidden to talk about outside of the village." He looked up at the girl sleeping in the hammock as she had been all day. "Only Helga can talk about it."

"…she's planning to go back there."  
"I'm not surprised," Miles murmured.  
"But Dad. I want her to stay here."  
He looked at him. "Give her a reason."

"How can I tell someone who liked me—loved me, to stay here? Isn't that… cruel?" Arnold's head fell at the thought of how that would sound like. "I want her to stay, but… I want to stay with Lila. So, I can't."

"I know I don't know you well, son. But Helga told me all sorts of things about you. In my opinion, you can be a little selfish once in a while, but you have to remember that there are others involved, too." As his son opened his mouth to question him, he interrupted him. "Go fish with the others, I know how to get Helga down from her perch, and it will be a part of her you have never seen before, I promise."

Worried about the others being aggressive with him for upsetting Helga—and terrified to see if Curly would lose his mind, he treaded towards the adults. They were not as pleased either, but they were in more control of themselves than the teenagers could not say for themselves. Miles watched his son slink away to the group, sitting on the ice cheat with guilt on his shoulder, and trying to think things through.

The man stood up and slowly climbed up Helga's tree with a backpack on his shoulder. "Helga," he spoke before coming up to a branch that the hammock was tied on. "It's not fair to him that you are not going to tell him about _him_." There was no response. "What would Emilio say? About you running away from here?" Helga finally looked at him with a glare, and he offered the bag. "You want it to feel like home?"

Confused by his words, she took the bag and examined what was in it. "My clothes from the ceremony, I thought I left it back in San Lorenzo." Her gaze went to the man. "Why did you bring it with you here?"  
"I had a feeling that you would want to go back after dealing with your mother, but that was taken care of." He smiled. "Stella and I made sure to bring many of your belongings here, where you live, too."  
"Miles, I never want Arnold to know the truth about me and Rio… I don't want anyone to know about him until I'm ready." She looked at her clothes again. "Can you even play the double barrel flute?"

Cockily, he scoffed, "as a matter of fact…!" She eyed him. "No, but I know the beat to the Full Moon." Helga looked up at the moon to see that it was indeed, bright and full. "Give me two minutes, okay?"

She gave up on being angry and hopped down from her hammock while Miles scowled at her for taking advantage of her youthful bones. Doing as he said he would, he placed clam ankle bells around his ankles, a small wooden drum positioned between his knees, and a small bamboo piped flute. When she returned from dressing, he stared at her in amazement; the fringe dressing and poncho would always get him because the others of the Green-Eyes tribe would not wear something so royally. Almost grinning at the pouch at her side, and he began playing the instruments that he had on his person, catching everyone's attention from the riverbank. When they saw Helga dancing around the fire, they put the fishing poles away and ran over to the logs to watch her native dancing that the Green-Eyes definitely taught her during her stay in San Lorenzo. As she walked around them in front of the fire, she reached into the pouch to throw dust into the flames that grew ten feet for that moment.

The boys were in awe, clapping excitedly with their mouths gaped—even the adults were amazed.

Something hit her, and she froze on her feet with an intense stare into the woods. Something was there.

Miles immediately stopped; sensing it. However, the others assumed that it was the end of the dance. "That… was… incredible!" Sid cheered, waving his hat in the air. "You're better than the girls at home!"  
"Thank you Sid," she said almost sweetly. "I'm going to go change." She went into the adults tent to change, only to come back two minutes later. "I think I'll put my things away and then go on a walk—"  
"No," Miles stood up. "How about the boys take you to the river. You can teach them to fish while we adults take care of things." She glared at him, but he smiled weakly. "Go be a kid and have fun, okay?"  
Not able to fight anymore for a day, she looked over to the boys with a smile. "How about we all just go fool around and go swim instead?" The boys cheered and ran to the river while stripping their clothes.

When they were down their boxers, they all realized that they were nearly naked in front of Helga, and they began to cover themselves with their hands and hats. Helga sighed at their worries. She began to strip as all of the boys watched her. They were swallowing hard with anticipation of what they would see. To their disappointment, she was wearing a black tank top and a pair of black boxers as if she was trying to pass off as being a boy! Helga walked in about knee high into the water before bending down with her hands in the water; the boys watched to see what she was doing.

"Got it," she smiled as she brought her hands up in the air, revealing a fish. "Is something wrong, boys?" Helga tossed the fish in the opened ice chest. The boys still stared, and a hand went up on her hip. "I think I know what I do can to you _boys_." Oh yes, she knew what she could do. "Let's have a competition, whoever gets the biggest fish can…" She baited them, seeing what sort of prizes they would want.

"Whoever wins can go on a date with you for an entire day!" Curly laughed maniacally.

"Sure."

With one quick glance at each other, they all dove into the water to catch fish the way that she did while she was in front of them. Stinky called out to Arnold and Gerald, asking why they were participating if they were already in a relationship with girls. Helga defended the two, saying that if either of them won, they could get whatever they wanted from her, if, it was in her power to oblige. The boys were starting to have fun now without realizing it, so Helga caught about twelve more in silence because she was upstream from them, and then got dressed.

"Princesa!" A man called out, and she turned to look. "Princesa, por favor! Princesa!" The boys all stood up to look at the crazy man that came from nowhere. Some of them knew that he said 'Princess' and 'please,' but why? "Princesa!" Miles grabbed him and started to drag him away forcefully. "Princesa!"

Helga quickly turned her gaze away, not wanting to see that man's face in her mind.

Arnold seemed to be the only one to notice this.

"Looky here fellas!" Stinky pulled a fish out of the water. "I got me a fish!"

The boys glared at him and began searching even more. However, no one else caught any.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 07**

**Come Back to Me**

**Now—**

This time, he was ready for her.

It was four in the morning, and it was freezing cold outside of the tent in his regular clothes, but moments later, Helga hopped down like a cat. Arnold attempted to follow her into the woods, but she gave him a fierce scowl that made his spine tingle in fear of what she would do. She came back after a few minutes that led him to assume that she went to the bathroom, so he shrugged it off casually. As he was about to speak to her, she glared at him before motioning to the empty ice chest as a sign that she wanted him to help. Not complaining, he hurried over to assist her by taking one side with the handle bar, and followed her to the river.

Ah, Helga was going to catch fish again.

"Can you teach me?" He whispered.

Her attention went to him for a moment before taking off her socks and shoes, rolling up her pants to above her knees, and looked at him again. It was a sign that he had to do exactly as she did if he were to learn to fish like her, so he hurried out of his footwear and rolled his pants and long sleeves up. She slid one foot into the water silently whereas he sort of stepped in and made a thump in the process—earning him a quick scowl. Mouthing 'I'm sorry' to her was all he could do before having to follow her in the river even more until he was knee deep like her. Helga placed her hands into the water to wait for a while until one slid between her hands, which she grasped quickly so it would not get away.

"How do you do that?" Arnold watched her put the fish in the bucket.

For a moment, she looked at him as if he was a helpless child, but she came over to him from behind in order to hold the back of his hands. Arnold was already blushing at the position that they were in, but jumped when he felt a fin touch his hand when he was not concentrating. She put her forehead on his shoulder to laugh silently at his jitters when the fish touched him, it was funnier than it sounded. To make sure he was concentrated on the fish, she did not move or motion anything when she came to him. About two minutes later, another fish grazed against his hands that made him want to catch it during its little teasing game, yet waited for Helga. It stopped for the moment, and Helga clasped his hands over it, which motivated the fish to struggle, but Arnold held it firmly.

He _finally_ caught a fish. "Thanks Helga," he whispered before silently placing the fish in the ice chest. They returned to the water to catch more, separately now. "About yesterday morning, I'm sorry that I upset you." Arnold looked at her quietly. "There's a lot that I don't know about you anymore, but I want to get to know you again, if you'll let me." Helga caught another fish. He stood up straight to watch her walk to the chest. "I want to be fair to you, and I think I found a solution if you're willing to listen to it."

"Remember that time where you blinded me in fourth grade," she whispered softly. "Even though I had regained my eyesight a few hours later and decided to give you a prank, you threw it in my face as an act of revenge." After placing the fish in the chest, she looked to see him frown in a guilty manner.  
"I was tired of your pranks Helga, can you blame me?" Helga shrugged before entering the river again, so Arnold returned to fishing as well. "When Gerald told me what you were up to, I decided to beat you at your own game. However, it didn't make things any better. It only made me sink down to your level."  
"Are you implying that I'm inferior, Arnold?" As soon as the question passed her lips, he froze instantly in horror from what he said. "The darker side of you was a lot more entertaining than the _normal_, plain, optimistic Arnold." Again, she caught another fish, and took it over to the ice chest. "He was hot even."

"So you're implying that _I'm_ hot?" Arnold grinned with pride.  
"You? No." Hearing this, he fell in the water, and she caught his hat before it drifted away, again.  
The football headed boy came up for air. "Why didn't you help me!" He whispered in a quiet hiss.  
"I did," she pointed to the little blue baseball cap on her head.  
"Ugh, give it back Helga. I'm soaking wet." When he got up again, he slipped and fell, again.  
Said girl smirked and crossed her arms. "Why? You can't seem to keep it on your head these days."  
He gave up and let her wear it, "fine. It's safer with you anyway."

"At least when you're angry at me, you're more interesting." She began to fish again. "What was even better about that side of yours, was that I was the only one capable of letting it out." Seconds later, she caught another fish. "Our relationship was idiotic and meaningless. I would harass you out of fear, and you ignore it. Yet, when I actually do something or attempt to be nice, you would always lash out." As she placed the fish in the chest, she returned to catch another. "Ever since I could remember, I was never in the picture when it came to the family. They even named me after my own sister. So she was the daughter that was perfect and got all the attention while I was imperfect and was neglected." Helga waited for a fish to slip by as Arnold stood up and stared at her; listening to her telling her own story.

"When I think on it now, it was hilarious. A little girl that is not even five, walking through the worst parts of the city in the rain, alone, to a preschool. All because the family was busy being so proud of Olga. I met an idiotic boy with a blue hat, and I supposed that was the first time I felt acknowledged. But girls are stupid and blind; the first boy that reaches out their hand is the one that they get attached to and think of them as their hero." She caught another fish after a while, and headed towards the ice chest again. "When an oversized boy attempted to bully me, of course I was upset, I thought I was safe after all. Then that bullying became harassment, and my fear turned aggressive. So in order to protect myself from being hurt anymore, I became something to fear, and that forced a reputation against me."

Arnold looked at the water sadly; recalling the past. "…I didn't know that was how you felt."

"Yeah, well… there's nothing you can do about it now." She decided to stop fishing, and sat on the ground. "So, how many fish did you catch?" As he blushed for his failure, she grinned widely. "That's very good Arnold, now get out before you get sick." The boy obeyed obediently and fixed his pants. "I bet Phoebe didn't tell anyone why Miriam went crazy." By now, the sun was starting to rise. "Bob got a big break and was going national with his company. We were going to move to California the next day, and the stress of it had hit Miriam hard when she was drunk." Helga lied down on the dirt, staring at the sky. "If my _mom_ didn't go crazy and shot everyone in my family, we would have been in California the next morning, and I wouldn't have been able to say goodbye to anyone." She chuckled. "You happy?"

"Happy about what?" He placed his socks and shoes on. "That your family was killed? No."  
"It seems like, my family had to die, so that way I could save yours." Helga rolled over to lie on her side while her back faced him. "You're lucky, Arnold." She sighed softly. "Your parents looked out for me."  
"And they still do." The boy saw her nod, and it came to him. "Can I think of you as my sister?"

The world around them had seemed to freeze through time as soon as he managed to ask her about this bizarre question. She lied there quietly, still not answering him for whatever reason that may be, so he scooted closer to look at her carefully. There was no expression in her eyes as she stared at the dirt in silence, it made him uncomfortable enough to shake her softly for an answer.

"I'm with Lila romantically, but you mean more to me than a best friend—what you've done for me is completely amazing." Arnold looked at her, and there was still no answer from her. "After all, you had a tendency to look after me, right? Kind of like an older sibling. And I come to you with my problems." He tried to think of better reasons. "I know I'm being selfish, but I really want you to say here with me and my family. Dad makes it look like we're siblings anyways." This made him laugh sheepishly. "Besides, you know ten times more about me than Gerald does. And… uh…" He did not know what else to say. "I—"

"You know," she interrupted quietly as she sat up to glare at him. "You're an annoying little brother."

His eyes lit up at this. "It's okay with you? To have a sibling relationship?"  
"Just don't expect me to tell you everything about San Lorenzo." She growled.  
"Thank you!" Too excited, he tackled her to the ground in a hug. "Thank you Helga!"  
"What are you—crazy? Get off me!" Said girl pried him off and jumped in a tree quickly.  
"Oh come on, you should be used to it by now." He grinned widely, standing up on his feet.  
"Have you been taking Curly's medication or something, or are you just _that_ excited?"  
His eyes rolled, "of course I'm excited, and I was terrified you'd be mad at me again!"  
"No, Arnold. I mean you're _really_ _excited_ right now, and it's a bit annoying."  
Arnold looked down, and blushed. "I'll… I'll be right back… s-sorry."

She shook her head at this, "idiot."

* * *

Soon enough, all the teenage boys were taught how to fish like Helga, and they were catching fish beyond their wildest belief. Last night, Stinky was the only boy to catch a fish in the darkness of the night, so he was the one to win the date with Helga. It was only after a good breakfast that Arnold realized she was going to be staying a little longer if she would date Stinky for a day. It was around noon, the boys were fooling around with a football with the adults while Helga contently played a double-barreled drone. Although, to her and Miles, it was a flute, but no one was complaining as she played the beautiful melodies from her hammock. In fact, they harmonious tune had brought in some hikers and nearby campers that were around the down the river. With the larger group around, some of the others were offered to play football with the rest of the group, making it a full-fledged game.

For lunch, the women that came along with the husbands and boyfriend were worried about everyone working up an appetite. The bonfire was widened and they began to cook some of the fish and the rest of the meat from the mountain lion that was from two days ago. It was like a huge party, and they were all enjoying themselves out in the open that was not surrounded by city and its filth. However, all good things must end as she stopped playing the flute to watch towards the river sharply, seeing something.

Untrusting to the foreign behavior, she hopped down from her hammock as cat-like as always, grabbed the staff that she had recently sharpened the tip of, and started to stalk towards the river. Miles saw her at the corner of his eye while he had the ball, earning himself a large dog piling on top of him for this. He barely felt it as he was tackled to the ground; his focus was on the signs that Helga were showing as she paced slowly at the edge of the river. When she finally stopped and held the staff in two hands, it meant that there was something that would cause a danger to everyone.

"Helga—what it is?" He spoke quickly. Everyone got off him to when they heard the worried tone.  
"Cubs," the girl answered quietly. "Two cubs, no sow in sight." She took a step forward, but pulled back.  
"It's best to leave them alone, you don't want to be the cause of their interaction with humans—Helga!"  
Said blond-haired female backed up a little more before jumping the river stream. "I'm checking them."  
"What if the sow comes!" Miles stood up, but once he did, she was long gone. "Women! Every time!"

The hiking group looked to him worriedly. "I can chase after your daughter if you want sir, I'm a fast runner. My girlfriend can go warn the rangers at the station about an hour's run away." A man offered.  
"No… don't follow her, she'd just kill you." He growled in frustration. "Contact the rangers and tell them to come to this campsite though, maybe they can figure out what to do with the cubs if they _are_ alone."  
"Dad—we can't just leave Helga out there to be on her own, she could get hurt!" Arnold was amazed that his father was being too lenient about this all of a sudden. "We have to make sure that she's okay!"  
"There's one thing you have to learn about that girl, even _I_ have to learn about her." His hand came up to scratch the back of his head. "The tribe considered her a Goddess, and even she made sacrifices."

Jerry looked at him with a tint of suspicion. "Given this particular event, it sounds that you imply—"  
"It's just facts. I can't say more than that." Miles searched his pockets. "Where's that flute of mine…"

They waited for three hours, and the boys were very impatient with no signs of Helga being anywhere nearby their campsite. Rangers came by with a helicopter in order to take the report down about what happened, only to try hearing correctly that a member of their party left with two cubs. As the rangers were finishing the report, Helga jumped from a tree twelve feet away from everyone, giving them all heart attacks. She looked completely confused at the helicopter being there and two rangers standing there with the group of males since others left.

Before she could say anything, all the boys embraced her. "Ow, ow, ow! Not all at once!" In the end, the group fell over into a pile where they blamed one another for hurting her. "Get off me!" She laughed.  
"Helga!" Miles yelled furiously at her, and the boys slinked away from her. "Where have you been!" He came over to her. "Do you have any idea how worried we have been? You were gone for hours!"  
"Well, it wasn't easy." Her mind replayed everything. "I retraced where the cubs had been and found a pool of blood. So someone must have shot their mother and took off with her. I searched for another."  
The rangers looked at her in disbelief. "Are you trying to tell us that you were looking for a sow to adopt the two cubs after finding out that their mother was killed by illegal hunting?" Sounded like a lie really.

"It wasn't that hard, I ran with the cubs for a little while until hearing a call. It was another sow fighting off a coyote scavenging off her obviously dead cub." Helga shifted her shoulders stiffly. "Before I knew it, the cubs ran over to the sow, mistaken it for their mother. She seemed fine with it, but I watched for at least another twenty minutes until I saw her attempt to feed them." The girl shrugged after that. "When I noticed that it was getting dark, I started to run back—but the cubs were chasing me. So I climbed the trees while the sow convinced them to follow her back to her den most likely. That's the story of it all."

"Can you describe the sow you left the cubs with?" The other ranger asked.  
Annoyed at their disbelief, she began rambling in a completely different language.  
Rangers looked a little vexed by the game. "What was that?" They tried being nice.  
"She said, the sow was missing an ear." Miles defended. "The girl is obviously tired."

"Well, we know that sow, and we know where her den is, so we'll check it out in the morning. Thank you for your…" They tried to think of the correct words to say. "Thanks for your help, relocating those cubs."

Helga glared at them lightly before heading towards the campsite, and the rangers left in the helicopter without bothering to see if everyone was in the clearing. However, Miles was not finished with her yet as she walked over and climbed the tree holding her hammock where she sleeps. He knew that she was up there crying in pain; it was hard to stay mad at her when he knew her reason of doing what she did. Letting her off the hook for now, he looked to the others and told them to give her some space for the time being, but the teen were skeptical.

"Maybe if we pester her like old times, she'll feel better!" Harold cheered; thinking it was a good idea.  
"What do you mean 'we,' huh?" Sid placed his fists on his sides. "You were the one who harassed her!"  
"Ya, we never harassed her—on account of we bein' too afraid of her." Stinky scowled at the large boy.  
"Aw, you're just a bunch of sissies!" Harold did not seem to be too worried right now. "Just watch—"  
"You _do_ realize that she can kick your butt and worse though, right?" Gerald reminded him, but too late.

"Hey Madam-Fortress-Mommy! Come down and beat me up! Ah-hah!"

Miles slapped himself in the face. "Dumb move, kid…"  
Jerry scowled at his son. "Harold, that wasn't very nice."  
"Come on Fortress-Mommy! Aren't you going to pound me!"

In one swift move, Helga sat up and threw her knife. It landed on the ground between his legs.

Harold twitched as he stared at the knife that was so close to castrating him in a blink of an eye, she had literally scared the pee out of him. Though he ran away crying for his mother, things were starting to become very clear to the parents about the girl, and they were not happy about it. Martin offered to have somewhat of a "Father Meeting" for the moment, and told the boys to go fishing while they came up with a plan before they leave tomorrow. They shrugged and went to go fishing, but only Helga was the one that knew that the meeting was about her and her past. Miles looked at her apologetically as he knew what the subject was about, but Helga weakly nodded to give him her permission.

It took an hour, but the adults finally came out of the tent, looking at Helga with guilt on their faces for hearing such a horrid story. She never once looked at them because she did not want to see the look of pity on their faces—she did not want to be judged by them. To prove this, she undid her hammock and hopped down with her things without emotion riding on her face when she landed.

"We're sorry, Helga." Martin apologized first.  
"Yeah… we're just protecting—" Ray was glared at by everyone.  
"Forget it." Helga stated. "I'm walking to the city, I'm not going to put up with this."  
Miles frowned at how upset she was. "You're being unreasonable, we leave first thing in the tomorrow."

"I'm being unreasonable? I knew exactly what every one of these know-it-alls thought about me as soon as they started to put the pieces together!" She yelled angrily, finally losing her cool. The teenagers all stopped to look at the situation over at camp. "Do you think I am stupid! Do you think I did not know what was going through your heads! What names you probably wanted to call me before Miles here had to tell you my story!" Helga's face was red from yelling at them. "I bet after he explained everything was when you finally stopped assuming the worst about me! That's the thing with you city mutts! You know nothing! You immediately come to your conclusions without facts! You think you're so high and mighty about yourselves that—" Miles came over to her, trying to calm her down. "Let me go Miles! It's monsters like them that I never wanted to face if I ever returned! Let me go you jerk!" Tears flowed down her face as she threw the man off her and bolted off into a full run from everyone in the campsite.

"Now see what you all did!" Phil pointed to the four other men. "Now don't you fellas feel ashamed!"

The men dipped their heads in shame; driving her to runaway.

"What happened." Arnold called from behind the group that slowly turned to him. "Why did she run?"  
"She's just upset." His father tried to reassure him. "Helga just needs to calm down a bit right now."  
"I'm not buying it. I don't care what she's accused of, but I'm not letting her run off alone." He ran off.  
"Wait for me Arnold!" Gerald followed him, scowling at his own father briefly in the process of this.

Soon enough all the boys joined Arnold in search for her.

Miles looked at the men. "I'll be sleeping outside the tent tonight, thanks."

* * *

"Helga!" Arnold called out in the darkness. "Come on Helga! Let us hear from you!"  
"Man… come on Arnold we should make camp or go back to our dads." Gerald frowned unhappily.  
"I'm not going back until I find Helga." He growled. The only light they had was the moonlight anyway.  
"But Harold already cut his arm on a branch, and Eugene hurt his leg when he tripped!" Sid panicked.  
Harold added to this, shivering. "W-What if bears or scary mountain lions come out and eat all of us?"  
"Helga said that if we make a lot of noise, it'd scare off predators." Stinky answered.

"She's close," Brainy stated, quietly wheezing.  
Everyone turned to look at him curiously for this.  
"He's right!" Curly perked. "I can smell her too!"  
They all looked at him, in a more paranoid manner.  
"Well gosh, can you find her?" Eugene smiled.

Suddenly, they heard a low grunt of pain, causing them to jump in fear.

Not worried about who or what it was, Arnold went towards the direction where the noise came from, and that was when they began to see a fire. Not long after that did they see their friend sitting at the base of a tree with a hand to her bloody leg from when she was attacked by the cougar. They all ran to her to make sure that she was okay, but she was obviously in too much pain to care about anything.

"What are you doing here…" Helga sounded exhausted. "Go back to the camp."  
"We're not going back without you." Arnold stated firmly. "Come on, I'll help you up."  
"I'm not going to get up, I need to recover. My body is strained from lack of training it again."  
"But we have to go back Helga," Gerald called out, rubbing his arms. "It's freezing out here and—"  
"Oof!" Stink tripped over a root that was out of the ground. "Darn it, I think I scraped my knee on that."

"This is a total nightmare! First Harold's an idiot, then Eugene's being Eugene by getting hurt too, and now Stinky hurt his leg. But more importantly, Helga is bleeding! She needs like… like medical care or something!" Sid brought out his cell phone, and sunk to his knees. "There's no reception out here!"

"Why were you all stupid enough to follow me?" Helga asked tiredly. "You all wasted your time." She tried to sit up—hissed, and stayed in place. "As for everyone's injuries... Gerald, you complained about being cold, grab a fallen branch and bring it over here after you placed the tip on fire so I can see better. Eugene, Harold, Stinky, you three come to my right side." The four did as told while Helga removed her shirt; this time she had no tank top, so her bra was exposed. Gerald came back but froze when looking at her. "Gerald!" She barked angrily. "I don't have time for your girly fainting!" Her fierce roar caused him to jump, and he slowly came over as she ripped the shirt. She placed a weird ointment on their wounds that stung before she turned the scraps of shirt into wrap bandages for the three—plus her own leg. "That should hold you until you get to camp." Helga leaned back against the tree. "Now go away."

"I'm not leaving." Arnold pulled off his sweater, unbuttoned his checkered long-sleeved shirt, and gave it to her. "Put it on, I'm not going to let you freeze out here." He quickly placed on his sweater, shivering.  
"If you guys are all cold, then go warm up at the fire, and put yourselves next to each other when you go to sleep." Helga shifted uncomfortably. "I don't have the strength to argue with you guys anymore."  
"Well I for one am not going to share my warmth with a bunch of losers!" Curly stated before coming over and daringly sat between Helga's legs, lying against her chest. "…but you need the heat more."

All of the boys looked at Curly for being an idiot, and waited for Helga to pound him into the ground for his perversion. It was just like she said though; she was too weak to fight with them anymore, and they began to notice that she was probably more cold than the rest of them. Stinky toughened up for the job and asked to sit behind her to help her backside away from the tree, and he was allowed. Sid came over and took her upper right side while Eugene and Brainy took her thigh and leg of her right side to keep warm for the night. Arnold came over to take her upper left side where as Gerald quickly managed to scoot some burning material towards them before taking her thigh while Harold laid by her leg.

"You're all morons." She whispered tiredly; not knowing that they all smiled at her comment.


End file.
